Around 50 days of hectic public campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls ended on Wednesday evening in Kozhikode district, as both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) exuded confidence of winning Kozhikode and Vadakara segments, while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) claimed to make significant gains in these seats.
The grand event to culminate the campaign was held at Palayam for the Kozhikode constituency and at Thalassery for the Vadakara constituency. Vadakara town was spared of the spectacle considering the possibility of violent clashes between activists of rival political fronts.
In Kozhikode, the roadshows taken out by activists of the LDF, UDF, and the NDA ended at the Palayam tri-junction. M.K. Raghavan, UDF candidate, Elamaram Kareem, LDF candidate, and M.T. Ramesh, NDA candidate, along with senior leaders of their respective parties were present. In the vibrant roadshows taken out ahead of this, party activists carrying flags, party poppers, and balloons danced to the tunes of DJ music as wild drum beats resonated in the atmosphere.
K.K. Shailaja, LDF candidate from Vadakara, began her roadshow from Koyilandy, which culminated at Thalassery. UDF candidate Shafi Parambil and C.R. Praful Krishnan, NDA candidate, also concluded their campaign in the town in a similar manner.
Though the Lok Sabha elections were declared only on March 16, all the political fronts had already begun their campaigning in the district. The style of campaigning witnessed radical changes in Vadakara after incumbent UDF MP, K. Muraleedharan, was replaced at the last minute by Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil.
A full-blown cyber war erupted thereafter which also led to Ms. Shailaja accusing her rival of indulging in unethical campaigning through circulation of fake videos and morphed pictures. Her subsequent clarifications were termed by the UDF camp as a ‘U-turn’. Reverberations of this are yet to die down with both the candidates sending legal notices to each other.
A crude bomb blast that claimed the life of an alleged CPI(M) sympathiser at Panoor in nearby Kannur district and the alleged role of the party in political violence were other major issues widely discussed during the campaign.
In Kozhikode, the LDF raked up the alleged absence of development projects initiated by Mr. Raghavan, who has been representing the seat since 2009. Mr. Kareem also questioned the UDF MP’s alleged silence on critical national issues. Mr. Raghavan, however, invited his rivals to take a tour of Kozhikode to see what he has done all these years.
