Kerala may mark --- "Communists Mukt Bharat" ... But that does not Congress is on revivavl march

 

Demography and onground political dynamism do not favour BJP in Kerala.

Hence; due to anti incumbency; the Left may be ousted and after many months if not years, the Congress is set for a victory in a state poll. 

Last time the Congress tasted victory was in Himachal Pradesh in Dec 2022 and Karnataka in May 2023. 

The saffron party may still have to work harder to convince voters that they would rule in Kerala and only then the fringe Hindu voters will trust the Lotus party in assembly polls. BJP's success in corporation polls was exemplary but it will still need different games and different political situation to win the prize in Kerala polls. 

The Congress has started screening candidates for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections. The party is likely to announce the first list of the candidates before Holi festival. 

Elections for the 140 Assembly seats in Kerala are likely to be held in March-April along with West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu. 

 The Congress plans to contest from around 100 seats in an alliance with the United Democratic Front (UDF). 

The UDF including Indian Union of Muslim League and Congress has been out of power for the last 10 years and hopes to dislodge the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) this time.

According to Congress insiders, the All India Congress Committee screening committee headed by veteran Madhusudan Mistry has started shortlisting the names recommended by the state unit. 

The insiders further said the central election committee is likely to meet soon.

Over the last few days, the Congress managers got several surveys done across the state and will factor the same in shortlisting the names of potential candidates. Rahul Gandhi's preferred choice would probably be K C Venugopal. 

In 2021, the CPI-M led LDF could retain surprising many and beating the usual trend; the state of Kerala was used to. 

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The peculiarity of Kerala politics is unique. The Hindu voters may trust BJP for civic polls but when it comes to state assembly polls; they may prefer CPI-M to prevent IUML to come to power. This factor weighed a lot in 2021 too when the CPI-M could retain power.

Over the last few days, AICC general secretary organization KC Venugopal, AICC observers including CWC member Sachin pilot, Karnataka minister KJ George and Kanhaiya Kumar and the AICC in charges had been reviewing the UDF’s preparedness for the key contest with senior state leaders to ensure nothing was left to chance.

Additional info : 

The BJP is likely to field former DGP Jacob Thomas either in the Thrissur or Irinjalakuda assembly constituency in the upcoming assembly elections. 

Thomas’s candidacy is learnt to be more aligned with the interests of the RSS than with the BJP leadership in the state.