Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) leader K.K. Rema’s victory from the Vadakara Assembly segment against her Left Democratic Front (LDF) rival and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Manayath Chandran by a margin of 7,491 votes is historic on many counts.
First, the constituency in Kozhikode district bucked the general trend in the State in favour of the LDF by electing a United Democratic Front (UDF)-backed candidate. Second, this is only the second time a non-socialist nominee is being chosen by the electorate here except in 1957, when the undivided Communist Party of India’s M.K. Kelu won from here. Third, this is the first time a woman is getting elected as MLA from the segment. And this is also the maiden electoral victory for any UDF-backed candidate from Vadakara.
Of the total 1,36,673 votes polled, Ms. Rema bagged 65,093 against Mr. Chandran who got 57,602. M. Rajesh Kumar of the National Democratic Alliance won 10,225 votes. The constituency is spread over Azhiyur, Eramala, Chorod, and Onchiyam grama panchayats and the Vadakara Muncipality and Ms. Rema had maintained her lead throughout the counting process.
It was a kind of déjà vu for Mr. Chandran, who had lost the 2016 polls to Janata Dal (Secular) leader C.K. Nanu of the LDF. Mr. Chandran’s party, the Janata Dal (United), was part of the UDF then. Ms. Rema had contested as an Independent, bagging 20,504 votes. Mr. Nanu had polled 49,211 votes and Mr. Chandran 39,700 votes. Mr. Rajesh Kumar had got 13,937 votes. It is significant that Mr. Kumar failed to retain the number of votes that he bagged last time in this election.
The victory will be a morale booster for the RMPI who is now an unofficial ally of the UDF in most of the local bodies in the constituency.
The RMPI had made political violence a major campaign theme in the election, accusing the CPI(M) of conspiring to murder its founder T.P. Chandrasekharan in 2012, after he had broken away from that party. Though there was some confusion over the candidature of Ms. Rema in the beginning and the LDF was much ahead in the first phase of the campaign, the RMPI overcame the hurdles with the strong backing of the UDF, especially the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).