On March 20, Pradosh was repairing a punctured tyre at his shop when he heard about the Election Commission’s decision to oust Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate N Haridas from the poll fray in Thalassery constituency.
“It was a rude shock for BJP workers. It also deprived us of a chance to welcome Amit Shah to Thalassery on March 25,” he said.
Pradosh and his friends harbour doubts about the incident. “What happened to my party? Is it a case of negligence of BJP leaders or a plot hatched by CPM-supported government officials? I don’t know. For me, the election is over,” he said.
The Election Commission rejected Haridas’s nomination because it did not contain the mandatory signature of the BJP’s national president J P Nadda. The error came to light during the official scrutiny on March 20. Haridas’s attempt to get a legal remedy failed after the Kerala High Court refused to intervene in the issue. The court accepted the commission’s contention that the court cannot interfere in the election process once the poll dates are announced.
Apart from Haridas, the nomination papers of BJP candidate in Guruvayoor Nivedita and AIADMK candidate in Devikulam Dhanalakshmi Marimuthu were also rejected on March 20. Nivedita’s affidavit, which was submitted along with the nomination, missed the mandatory signature of the party national president, while Marimuthu failed to submit the affidavit (Form 26). AIADMK is BJP’s partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Body blow to BJP
The nomination fiasco has dealt a severe blow to BJP, which has been waxing eloquent about its growth in Thalassery, a hotbed of political violence in Kannur district.
This is because the party’s vote share has risen from 6,973 in 2011 to 22,125 in 2016. But it fell to 13,456 in the Lok Sabha election in 2019. In the local body election in December 2020, it won eight seats in Thalassery municipality - part of the assembly constituency - and finished ahead of the United Democratic Front (UDF), which won seven seats. The Left Democratic Front is ruling the municipality with 36 seats. But the saffron outfit could not win even a single seat in Chockli, Eranholi, Kadirur and Panniyannur panchayats in the constituency. It secured only one seat in New Mahe panchayat.
With the ouster of BJP candidate, the fight for Thalassery has turned out to be between CPM leader and incumbent MLA A N Shamseer of the LDF and Congress leader MP Aravindakshan of the United Democratic Front.
Thalassery is an LDF fortress. In 2016, Shamseer defeated Congress’s AP Abdullakkuty (the former CPM leader who recently joined BJP after a stint with Congress) by 34,117 votes. Shamseer polled 70,741 votes (53.32%) while Abdullakkutty got 36,624 votes (27.61%).
The nomination fiasco also has become a political controversy with CPM and Congress alleging BJP of ‘vote trading’.
CPM Kannur district secretary M V Jayarajan said the incident revealed the secret pact between the BJP and the Congress. Congress leader Satheesan Pacheni alleged the BJP candidate committed the error (in the nomination paper) as part of its deal with the LDF.
Confused cadres
The absence of a BJP candidate in Thalassery has dampened the spirits of party workers who began electioneering soon after the party announced Haridas’s candidature. They had erected hoardings with Haridas’s photo across the constituency and painted graffiti on all available walls. Some of the hoardings have been removed since then, but workers say they do not know what to do with their votes.
Sukumaran, a party worker in the coastal village of Thalayi, says he will abide by the party decision. “I am disappointed, but I will abide by the party decision. I think it will ask me to abstain from voting,” he said.
Some party workers held the leadership responsible for the nomination failure and said they will take decisions on their own.
“Why should I wait for a callous leadership to decide on my ballot?” asked Jineesh from Chokli. “I will decide on the election day,” he said.
Indications from the constituency suggest that a major chunk of the BJP votes will now shift to Congress.
Rajesh, who runs a shop in Thalassery market, said: “CPM is our Enemy Number 1. So I will cast my vote for the Congress candidate,” he said.
Sahadevan, who lives in New Mahe, said both CPM and Congress are enemies of BJP. “But I will vote for Congress because of CPM’s stand on Sabarimala,” he said.
Workers are now mulling to travel to neighbouring constituencies to campaign for BJP candidates. “I cannot think of sitting idle during an election season. I don’t have anything to do in Thalassery. So I will go to Koothuparamba,” said Ajith.
‘We shall overcome’
Haridas told Onmanorama that his nomination was rejected purely on technical grounds, but sounded confident of overcoming the crisis.
“The BJP overcame many difficult situations in Kannur district. The party grew, sacrificing the lives of many workers. So we shall overcome this phase too. We will convince our workers and tell them soon what to do on the election day.”
He said the incident has saddened thousands of party workers. “What aggrieved the workers in Thalassery more was a missed chance to welcome Amit Shah. Shah would have come to Thalassery if my nomination was not rejected. We missed a huge opportunity to showcase our strength. This should not have happened,” he said. (Amit Shah had planned to address an election rally in Thalassery on March 25. The event was cancelled after the nomination was rejected)
Tough time
Local BJP leaders said they are facing a tough time convincing the aggrieved workers.
“Some workers say they will vote for Congress, while others said they will vote for NOTA. But I have told them to wait for the party’s decision,” said Rineesh, who is the president of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS, Sangh Parivar’s labour wing) in Thalassery.
Municipal councillor Ajesh said he has been facing plenty of questions from the cadres. “Many workers find fault with the leadership. I am finding it tough to convince them,” he said.