“This victory belongs to the people of Kerala. I thank you all for reposing faith in the LDF once again,” said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as he created electoral history becoming the first incumbent government in the state to be re-elected in decades. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 97 seats, United Democratic Front (UDF) 41; BJP scored Zero.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s first call after the massive win was to the people of Kerala to work together with their elected government to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic and “to take Kerala forward in the path of development, welfare and secularism!”
This victory belongs to the people of Kerala. I thank you all for reposing faith in the LDF once again. We need to come together more than ever before to tackle this pandemic and to take Kerala forward in the path of development, welfare and secularism!
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) May 2, 2021
The vote for secularism has resulted in a decisive mandate in favour of the Left Democratic Front, an alliance of Left-wing political parties. CM Pinarayi Vijayan, and his team of ministers are the first to retain power in the state. Vijayan also recorded his own historic win from the Dharmadom constituency. Kerala health minister KK Shailaja who gained worldwide acclaim for the way she handled the Covid-19 crisis in the state in 2020 and 2021, and the Nipah virus outbreak before that, won by a majority of over 61,000 votes from Mattannur constituency.
Soon after the win, CM Pinarayi Vijayan attacked the BJP-led opposition alliance and told NDTV, that the LDF’s Assembly election victory was a symbol of “Kerala’s rejection of religious divisiveness. The LDF has not just won it has gained six more seats to reach 97, leaving the UDF and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) far behind.
Congratulations to Mr. @vijayanpinarayi on a historical consecutive victory in the Kerala elections.
Together we fought these elections and now together we will fight the battle against Covid!— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) May 2, 2021
BJP’s Biggest Losers
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was routed in the state it tried so hard to make a dent in, but ended up losing even in Nemom it’s only standing seat, to the LDF. As reported in Indian Express, the BJP only managed to make a mark in five seats. This despite a campaign that was aimed at wooing ‘Hindu votes’, as the party leadership kept talking about things like the Sabarimala temple entry controversy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had raised the Sabarimala issue in his campaign, reciting Ayyappa chants, recalled news reports.
However, most of the voters did not buy the rhetoric and the saffron party got only around 11% of the votes. One of the biggest losers was the ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan, who seemed to have nursed chief ministerial dreams. He lost to Congress candidate Shafi Parambil. The other big losers was BJP state president K Surendran, who could win neither of the two constituencies he contested from, Konni or Manjeshwar. Sobha Surendran of the BJP also lost in Kazhakootam constituency, the winner was Temple Affairs Minister Kadakampally Surendran. Vijayan told the media that “BJP leaders even said the party would form the government without getting a majority.”
According to the Indian Express this poor show of the BJP in Kerala is likely to trigger unrest in the state unit, as even the RSS had been directly involved in campaigning in several seats.
The PolitBuro of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued a statement hailing the “resounding victory of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala”. It thanked the people of Kerala for “once again reposing faith in the LDF and relelecting it to form the next government. This has happened after more than four decades that the incumbent has been reelected. The LDF’s performance has been better than in the last assembly election.”
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury saluted the people of Kerala and issued a video message, “I thank the people of Kerala for reposing faith in an unprecedented manner in the way that the previous LDF government tackled all the challenges that the people have faced and also the pandemic scourge. The government gave a Kerala model to the world on how to handle the pandemic.”
അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങൾ, കേരളം! #RedSalute #ലാൽസലാം pic.twitter.com/SAGaxD9pmU
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 2, 2021
Congratulations, Kerala! We will do our best to live up to the trust and responsibility you have vested in us. We thank the people of Tamil Nadu for giving our alliance an opportunity to work for them. (1/n)
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 2, 2021
CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat said “people of Kerala rewarded the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for their handling of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic and the Kerala floods. He also highlighted that the pro-people approach of the government helped LDF in these elections.” He called this win a “significant victory as in the past 40 years no government was reelected for a second successive term. This shows that the people of Kerala have appreciated the performance of Pinarayi Vijayan-led government and the way it tackled floods in the state, the Covid-19 pandemic and remained committed to working for the people,” stated media reports.
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