Unlike in the past, Anthoor Municipality witnessed a tough contest in 22 of the 28 wards in the local body election conducted on Monday.
The municipality was the talking point when the LDF won all the seats of the municipality in 2015 even before the first vote was cast. Fourteen nominees were elected unopposed while the remaining candidates of the LDF won in the contest, making the municipality without an opposition.
Anthoor was back in the news in 2019 after the suicide of a non-resident Indian businessman, Sajan Parayil, after he had reportedly failed to get clearance for his convention centre from the municipality officials. The BJP and UDF had been accusing the LDF, which has an upper hand here, of unleashing violence and threatening the candidates in the municipality.
However, this time around, the UDF decided to take on the LDF in 18 wards while the BJP fielded 22 contestants. The LDF, UDF and BJP were engaged in three-way contests in eight wards. While the UDF took on the LDF directly in 10 wards, four wards witnessed a straight fight between the BJP and LDF.
The CPI(M) contested in all wards except in the one allotted to its alliance partner, the Communist Party of India (CPI). However, unlike in the past, the nominees in only six wards have managed to win unopposed.
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