Date:10/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/10/stories/2006041007270400.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

A red fortress but not impregnable

A. Harikumar

A constituency where undercurrents may come into play Where undercurrents may come into play

ALAPPUZHA: The Mararikulam Assembly constituency in the district could be termed a red fortress which has returned candidates of Left parties on most occasions since the first elections to the State Assembly in 1957. At the same time, it is not an impregnable Left citadel.

The sitting MLA T.M. Thomas Isaac of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in the coming elections.

Mr. Isaac is a State secretariat member of the CPI(M) and a well-known economist. Simi Rosebell John of the Congress is the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate.

She is contesting the elections for the first time. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate here is Sanu Sudheendran.

The CPI(M) is the most powerful party in the constituency on all accounts.

The Congress too has its own vote banks. Here the LDF rules all grama panchayats and block panchayats and the party candidate won from the district panchayat division in the constituency during the last elections to local bodies.

In the history of Assembly elections, the constituency has returned Left candidates on all occasions except in the 1977 elections till 1996.

But it baffled political observers and even the CPI(M) leadership in the 1996 elections when the party Polit Bureau member and sitting MLA V.S. Achuthanandan was defeated.

When the LDF captured power in the State in the elections, a relatively unknown UDF candidate P.J. Francis of the Congress handed over a humiliating defeat to Mr. Achuthanandan.

The CPI(M) did a lot of soul searching to locate the undercurrents that upset the apple cart of Mr. Achuthanandan. The following days saw many disciplinary actions in the party. But the exact reasons that lead to the defeat of Mr. Achuthanandan remain a mystery till date. But that put an end to the unrivalled supremacy of the Left parties in the constituency.

Communist leader C.G. Sadasivan was the first MLA from the constituency.

He won the 1957 elections defeating Joseph Mathen of the Congress by nearly 10,000 votes.

In the 1960 elections, S. Kumaran of the CPI was elected from here. The CPI(M) leader Susheela Gopalan won the polls in 1965.

In 1967 and 1970, S. Damodaran of the CPI(M) was elected. The CPI(M)'s monopoly was broken in the 1977 Assembly elections held after the Emergency in which Congress and allies won 111 Assembly seats in the State.

A.V. Thamarakshan of the Revolutionary Socialist Party defeated CPI(M) leader P.K. Chandranandan in that elections. But the LDF recaptured the seat in 1980 through Prof. Thamarakshan himself when the RSP joined the LDF. Prof. Thamarakshan won as LDF candidate in 1982 too.

The LDF candidates T.J. Anjelose and V. S. Achuthanandan reaped victories in 1987 and 1991 respectively.

In 2001, Mr. Isaac captured the constituency by defeating the sitting MLA Mr. Francis.

Mr. Isaac is facing the current elections pointing out the development activities initiated by him in the constituency, where a majority of the population work in the coir sector. On the crisis in the coir sector, Mr. Isaac says the UDF Government is responsible for it.

Mr. Isaac's opponents point out that his development strategy is being questioned inside the party itself. They point out that the MLA's initiatives in the coir sector has been a failure.

Self-help groups of women are very active in the constituency. Voters are highly politicised.

The CPI(M) had begun the campaign early and systematically. The CPI(M) has good hold over self-help groups.

Ms. John has also started her campaign and is concentrating on the strongholds of the Congress. The BJP also is active. But everybody is wary of the undercurrents.