Thiruvananthapuram: The local bodies in Panchayat Raj in Kerala will face fresh polls for a new term in a two-tier level, beginning Saturday, for which the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) are making every effort to establish their influence at all grass root democratic units in the state on west coast.
The first round of basic elections from GP to ZP levels takes place in 7 districts only. The second phase is scheduled on Oct 25 in another 7 districts. Kasaragod and Kannur districts, the Kannada and Malabar areas, are among those seeking votes on Oct 23. 9238 seats are contested by as many as 70, 915 candidates on Saturday next, in the first round of polls.
Assembly polls are scheduled in May 2011, but UDF discounted that the current Panchayat polls were a “pointer” to the results of next year. Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, believes LDF has good organizational structure to win local bodies polls.
Tharoor criticised the low voting pattern in the last several elections, and said, here was a key to improve the situation by Congress cadres in the state capital city.
The previous local bodies polls took place 5 years ago in 2005. LDF had an edge over UDF in all 3 tiers of Panchayat polls.
CM Achyutanandan and CPI (M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan feel that the ensuing polls will be a vote of confidence over the performance of CPI(M) administration in Kerala. The leftist govt, has come out with a lot of schemes for upliftment of common people in Kerala, despite certain changes in 2008 Lok Sabha elections, Visjayan stated in an upbeat way.