Kerala poll battle heats up as parties finalise candidates

Kerala’s election campaign has entered a high-voltage phase with parties rushing to finalise candidates before nominations close. The LDF, UDF and NDA are locked in a tight contest, with shifting political dynamics expected to influence key constituencies

Thiruvananthapuram: With barely two days left for the closure of nominations, Kerala’s electoral battle has entered a high-voltage phase, with all three fronts scrambling to seal candidates and maximise last-mile outreach.

Kerala goes to the polls on April 9 to elect a new 140-member Kerala Assembly.

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The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are down to announcing a handful of seats, expected to be finalised by the end of the day.

The ruling LDF was first off the blocks in releasing its candidates, with the BJP and UDF following up with subsequent lists.

What has followed is a contest defined as much by narrative building as by numbers.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is seeking an unprecedented third consecutive term, banking heavily on a decade-long governance plank.

However, the campaign has been complicated by an unusual wave of dissent within the CPI(M), with five veterans including G. Sudhakaran and P.K. Sasi finding space in the opposition camp.

On the other side, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan has raised the stakes dramatically, pledging political exile if the UDF fails to cross the 100-seat mark in the 140-member Assembly.

The UDF draws confidence from its strong showing in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a string of bypoll gains, and an impressive performance in the December local body polls.

The BJP, led by state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, is attempting to script a comeback after losing its lone Nemom seat in 2021.

Chandrasekhar, who lost to Shashi Tharoor in the 2024 parliamentary polls, has asserted that the NDA will have a presence in the next Assembly despite a marginal dip in vote share in recent local body elections.

While the outgoing Assembly heavily favoured the Left Front with 99 seats against the UDF’s 41, the opposition believes shifting political currents and localised anti-incumbency could narrow margins in key constituencies.

In around 35 constituencies, the Left won the 2021 Assembly polls with a margin of less than 10,000 votes.

As claims and counterclaims intensify, all three fronts agree on one point: in Kerala’s tightly contested political landscape, statistics can be rewritten.