Spots 
: The results of by-elections in 38 local body wards across 12 districts in Keralam will likely be the first major electoral test for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government, which is riding high on the overwhelming mandate it received in the Assembly polls.
The counting will begin at 10 a.m. The State Election Commission (SEC) has pegged the overall voter turnout at 58.81% across the wards. As many as 3,09,713 voters have exercised their franchise.
The results, expected to trickle in soon, could have significant consequences for the UDF, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance.
The UDF is seeking validation of its four-month period in office marked by governance initiatives, chiefly the Priyadarshini free travel scheme for women in KSRTC buses, a “successful” market intervention that debatably helped control seller inflation during the Onam, and also the much-touted “Toofan” anti-narcotic drive.
The UDF has also sought to broadcast a message of hope and optimism, including the promise to turn Keralam into a global maritime economy, despite the difficult economic landscape exacerbated by a looming power crisis and the war in the Gulf, which threatens to strangle the State’s financial lifeline, given its large expatriate workforce, and the persistent fear of rising fuel costs, and also raises the spectre of increasing fuel and cooking gas prices.
The UDF has also sought to put the LDF on the defensive by ordering a Crime Branch enquiry predicated on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) report seeking to indict former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter, T Veena, and son-in-law and former Minister Muhammad Riyas in the CMRL-Exalogic pay-off controversy.
In contrast, the LDF hopes to stage a swift political comeback by highlighting the rolling power cuts plaguing the population after a 10-year hiatus and the alleged shortage of medicines in government hospitals.
The LDF has also campaigned against the government’s “lackadaisical” approach to addressing the worries of settler farmers vulnerable to displacement, given the Union Government’s move to insulate Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) abutting forests in 98 villages from human activity, including farming and habitation. Notably, the settler farmer community had hewed to the UDF in significant numbers, chiefly in the rugged Idukki and Wayanad districts.
The “freebie” scandal centring on Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan’s recent travel to flood-hit Malappuram district on a chartered flight lent by an “anonymous benefactor”, Local Body Minister K M Shaji’s controversial use of a borrowed luxury car as his official vehicle, and also the foreign travels of Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Sports Minister O J Janesh has provided sensational grist to the LDF to target the UDF at the hustings.
The LDF has also sought to cast a harsh spotlight on Mr Chennithala and Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty during the campaign by alleging that the CMRL’s “slush fund ledger”, supposedly seized by the ED, mentioned their names.
: The results of by-elections in 38 local body wards across 12 districts in Keralam will likely be the first major electoral test for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government, which…