A lack of enthusiasm has gripped all the three political fronts in Kerala’s Chengannur Assembly constituency where a by-election is to be held soon and the campaigning, which had attained a feverish pitch towards March end as the parties were expecting the Election Commission to announce the schedule of the by-poll along with that of the State elections in Karnataka, has slowed down considerably.
The collapse of that expectation, the uncertainty over when the by-poll will be held and the legal experts’ opinion that the Election Commission need not announce the schedule in haste are prompting frontline State leaders of all parties, many of who had settled down in Chengannur by last month-end to lead electioneering, to withdraw from the scene to return later.
Even most local leaders of the BJP, the party drawing flak from opponents for the uncertainty over the poll date, are not amused much about the EC’s decision to put off the announcement. That party, which had dedicated a lot of time for planning top leaders’ constituency programmes in a meticulous manner, is yet to launch those programmes.