Kozhikode: Despite well-oiled campaigning of the LDF driven by CPM with its strong cadre, the ire among Ayyappa devotees over the Sabarimala issue coupled with the Modi phobia of minorities and agrarian communities are the elements that are strong enough to topple the LDF applecart in the region.
The slogans of "renaissance" and the "women's wall" were insufficient to snuff the flames of protest among the Ayyappa devotees which UDF managed to fan out during the ground-level campaign.
The absence of strong BJP candidates in the northern constituencies from Malappuram to Kasargod underlines the possibility.
Though C.K. Pathmanabhan, the BJP candidate in Kannur Lok Sabha constituency is a former state president of BJP, he never raised a challenge in any of the past elections.
UDF pins its hope in the protest votes of Sabarimala devotees which had fallen into the UDF kitty in all northern constituencies as they wanted to avenge the Left.
That is why Rajmohan Unnithan, a low-profile candidate on the UDF list, managed to pose a threat to LDF's Satheesh Chandran, the much popular gentleman politician whom the CPM picked up to replace P. Karunakaran, the son-in-law of A.K. Gopalan, to retain its citadel.
Rather than politics, Mr Unnithan has been applying his adeptness in politricks, putting CPM to weave out new strategies to resist him.
The murder of Sharath Lal and Kripesh, just before the elections, came handy for UDF in painting CPM as a party of assassins.
The Muslim outrage over Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah likening IUML flag that of Pakistan with references to "Jihadi" connections of the community resulted in a unification within like never before.
"Members of the community in large numbers came out to vote even from abroad unmindful of spending huge sums," said P.N. Suresh, a 'Left' sympathiser.
"Candidates of UDF also were capable of garnering votes from both communities. The candidature of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad also resulted in a tilt towards UDF in settler belts of Malabar with the churches taking a favouring stand."
Most of the NGOs of the churches were cash-strapped as the Modi regime tightened the strings.
Apart from these two, in Kannur, the UDF used the brutal killings of Shukkur and Shuhaib to attract Muslim voters. Moreover, the IUML leaders across all organisational layers were on a no-stone-unturned campaign mode till the end ensuring each vote in the UDF’s kitty.
