With candidates of all three major fronts hitting the ground, electioneering is on full swing in Alappuzha. Shanimol Usman of the United Democratic Front, A.M. Ariff of the Left Democratic Front, and K.S. Radhakrishnan of the National Democratic Alliance are leaving no stone unturned in wooing voters in the constituency.
The LDF, which announced the candidature of Mr. Ariff, a CPI(M) MLA representing Aroor Assembly constituency, ahead of others have already completed the first round of campaigning.
The front is on a mission to wrest the seat from UDF, won by K.C. Venugopal, MP, in the last two elections. However, Mr. Venugopal decided not to seek re-election this time, citing responsibilities given to him by the Congress national leadership.
After deliberations
His announcement initially put the Congress in a quandary in Alappuzha, with them scrambling to find a replacement. The party, after several rounds of deliberations, finalised Ms. Usman for the seat.
Although she arrived a bit late in the election scene, Ms. Usman has been able to rejuvenate the UDF bases in the short time.
Congress workers say she has caught up with the LDF candidate in the electioneering front.
Giving them tight fight is former Kerala Public Service Commission chairman K.S. Radhakrishnan who joined the BJP recently.
The BJP cadres consider him a strong candidate with all credentials to taken on both the LDF and UDF.
Focal points
While the UDF is seeking votes to continue the development activities in the constituency, the LDF is calling for a change. The LDF alleges that the constituency witnessed hardly any development in the last 10 years.
The Sabarimala row, corruption, communalism, murder politics, performance of the Union and State governments, along with local developmental are some of the major poll issues being raised in the election in the constituency.