Kozhikode: Scales may tip either way

KOZHIKODE: Things will not be that easy for the LDF this time around in Kozhikode municipal corporation as utterly unpredictable circumstances are prevailing in the city.

When the LDF is using every weapon in their arsenal to retain the city that they have ruled for the last four decades, the UDF is confident to rewrite history.

The BJP has already made an impact on both fronts, and they could be a deciding factor in many divisions though they may not win any seats.

In the present council, the LDF has 41 members against UDF’s 34. The anti-incumbency factor also haunts them.

“The 40-year rule can be a thing to boast of, but it may also affect our prospects,” a CPM leader said.

He also accused the UDF and the BJP of forging an alliance to defeat them in many wards. For example, the party is facing a stiff fight in Chakkorathukulam, a small division of some 2,700 voters, where the CPM has fielded former mayor Thottathil Raveendran.

Though Chakkor-athukulam has never disappointed them, the CPM leader said, it gave a narrow majority of just 80 votes the last time. The BJP has managed a strong presence here and is threatening the LDF. “This is the case with many other wards,” he added.

However, the party has pinned its hope on the recent political setbacks of UDF to turn the tide.

The UDF, on the other hand, is more confident than ever and hopes to win 40 to 45 seats. Its growth here was tremendous in the last one decade.

In 2005, the UDF won just seven out of 55. Five years later, it won 34 of 75 (of them, 31 from the old 55 wards).

“This time we will make tremendous prog-ress, and you can see a UDF mayor (taking over),” said Vidya Balakrishnan, its candidate in Chevayur.