Palakkad has set the stage for a triangular fight between three friends. But friendship apart, they are fierce electoral adversaries fighting tooth and nail to get maximum share of the nearly 13 lakh votes spread across the Assembly segments of Pattambi, Shoranur, Ottappalam, Mannarkkad, Kongad, Malampuzha and Palakkad.

The electoral heat wave is palpable across the Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency, though campaign focus lies in villages where political parties believe that voters can easily be influenced. Incumbent M.B. Rajesh is seeking re-election for a third term on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) banner, flashing a progress report of his activities as an MP.

“I am very particular never to hurt anyone or take on opponents personally,” says Mr. Rajesh.

His friend and District Congress Committee (DCC) president V.K. Sreekantan is fighting Mr. Rajesh on the United Democratic Front (UDF) banner. Unlike in the last two Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Sreekantan’s local and familiar face have brought in a fresh vigour to the UDF fold. The front strongly believes that Palakkad had slipped out of its hands due to lack of unity.

BJP’s C. Krishnakumar too is a familiar face. The BJP hopes to improve its position from the 18.09% vote share it got in the 2016 Assembly election. Mr. Krishnakumar believes that the Sabarimala issue, which the BJP had whipped up to the widest extent in Palakkad, will help him garner a lot more votes. BJP’s Shobha Surendran had polled 1.36 lakh votes in the 2014 Parliament election.

Sabarimala issue

Palakkad had witnessed a wave of protests in the wake of the Sabarimala issue.

The UDF too hopes to benefit from the Sabarimala issue which, it believes, had distanced quite a number of voters from the LDF. But the LDF is nonchalant about it. It says the people will rise above such emotions and will vote in accordance with the need of the hour: to oust the Modi government at the Centre.

Figures are all in the LDF’s favour. In 2014, Mr. Rajesh defeated UDF’s M.P. Veerendrakumar by 1.05 lakh votes. In the 2016 Assembly election, the LDF had secured a lead of 68,037 votes in the Palakkad Parliament constituency.

The Pattambi, Shoranur, Ottappalam, Kongad and Malampuzha Assembly seats are with the LDF. Even when issues such as Sabarimala, currency ban, GST, lynching and political murders are all used in the campaign, the three candidates are displaying extreme care not to take on each other personally. Yet all of them have claims and counter-claims when it comes to the Adivasi belt of Attappady.