(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The sharp growth in the votes polled by the bharatiya janata party in the elections in kerala has rattled the communist parties.
the 11.3 per cent votes the party polled in the just concluded lok sabha elections is the highest votes bjp has secured in any elections in the state. the party had polled only 6.3 per cent votes in the 2009 lok sabha election. the party had polled 6.03 per cent in the assembly polls in 2011.
political observers feel that the bjp is eating into the communist votes. though the left democratic front (ldf) led by the communist party of india (marxist) has doubled their seat tally in the just concluded lok sabha elections from four in 2009 their votes share increased only by one per cent.
the vote share of the congress-led united democratic front (udf) did not see a decline proportionate to the seats they lost in the current election. even though the udf seats tally came down from 16 in 2009 to 12 in 2014 their vote share declined only by 4.23 per cent. this shows substantial erosion in ldf votes in the state. communist think tanks see this as a clear indication of the lower caste hindu vote which comprise the backbone of the communist parties flowing to the bjp. more than 50 per cent of the communist cadre is said to be hindu.
the bjp has been trying to woo the hindu votes. the focus in the past was the upper caste hindus who supported mostly the congress. the party started focusing on the lower caste hindus after narendra modi came to the leadership.
modi’s strategy is to create a coalition of dalit and backward classes under the bjp. he sowed the seeds by identifying himself as one among them in a rally organised by the backward classes to commemorate a historic struggle against untouchability at cochin before the elections.
modi’s attempt apparently is to neuter the left in kerala as the party has done in west bengal. the bjp has decimated the left in the eastern state by increasing its vote share. political observers believe that modi may bankrupt the cpm of their traditional vote bank.
modi is not able to make inroad into the udf vote bank since they consist of minorities who account for nearly 45 per cent of the population. the bjp has no immediate hope of winning over the minorities as they continue to perceive the party anti-majority.
in such a scenario any further rise in the bjp votes may hurt the ldf badly. the bjp pushed ldf candidates to third position in several assembly segments. the prominent among them are former finance minister t.m. thomas isaac cpm politburo member ma baby and former trivandrum mayor sivankutty.
the bjp has been holding the cpm in third position at kasargod and manjeshwaram for some time now. though the bjp has not won any seat in the lok sabha it has come first in four assembly segments in trivandrum where o rajagopal of the bjp pushed the ldf candidate to third position.
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