Kerala Assembly Elections: Cool down, candidates

KOZHIKODE: The heat is unbearable both for the political parties and the people due to the rising temperatures and the approaching Assembly elections.  The Indian Meteorological Department has  already warned that the climatic conditions were set to worsen. As a result, the parties are working out strategies not to expose the candidates and the workers to the hot  sun.

“The campaigns may be avoided from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., when the ultraviolet radiation is more.  Travel in open vehicles and home visits must be avoided during the hot sun. The party workers can carry bottles of water with them or they can set up kiosks offering drinking water as well as ‘Sambharam corners.’  Since most of the  candidates are above 60, their health is more important,” said Dr T. Jayakrishnan, associate professor, Community medicine, Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode.

Rescheduling the  campaign time is needed to avoid sunstroke, said Mr V.T. Balram MLA, whose district, Palakkad,  recorded the maximum temperature of 41 degrees celsius on Monday. “Politicians maintain special diet during campaigning. Since we have more days left for the election,  we can avoid the afternoon campaigns,” he said.

Doctors say that the campaigners should use  caps and should not keep the audience waiting  in the open. CPM leader Dr T.M. Thomas Isaac said that he would avoid campaigns in the  sun. He prefers the rallies to start after 3 p.m. and public meetings to end by 11 a.m.

For Indian Union Muslim League candidate and Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb, campaigning in the open vehicles cannot be avoided. “The UDF has to decide in each constituency how its work  should proceed. Early morning campaigns are a good suggestion. Before the candidate reaches  the  venue, other speeches would be over. So the public will not have to wait unnecessarily,” he said.