Votes are sealed in Kerala, Will Pinarayi make a comeback?

Much-awaited elections for Kerala legislative assembly concluded on April 6 with a polling turnout of 74.04%. The final percentage may increase when postal votes are counted. However, it is generally believed that the final turnout percentage will be a little lesser than 2016's 77.48%. The election commission carried out a mammoth task of polling in a single phase with 15730 extra polling booths in the background of covid19 precautions. For the results, Keralites need to wait for almost a month now.

Not only Kerala but the whole India is waiting eagerly to know whether the incumbent chief minister and CPIM's strong man Pinarayi Vijayan will come to power again. Most of the media pre-poll surveys said there is a clear trend for the left front. In the 140 strong legislative assemblies, 71 seats are needed for the majority. Left front won 93 seats in the last elections. Their morale is boosted with the results of panchayat polls which were held in December. Despite numerous scandals like the chief minister's office's alleged role in a gold smuggling case and corruption accusations in flagship government projects like Life Mission, LDF clinched an impressive victory. They won 5 corporations out of 6, 11 district panchayats out of 14, and 43 municipalities out of 87.

In block panchayat level left front won 108 out of a total of 152 and 375 gram panchayats out of 514. This massive victory is mainly credited to the welfare schemes Pinarayi Vijayan government rolled out in his tenure which was affected seriously by two floods, covid pandemic.

The free food kits supplied by civil supplies outlets for every ration card holder and increased social welfare pensions made a clear impact on the lower-middle-class population of Kerala. Moreover, the effective leadership qualities performed by the Chief Minister himself during the crisis periods earned him a high reputation cutting across the political spectrum.

Apart from this Pinarayi Vijayan also rose into a national anti-fascist icon by leading a powerful political campaign against the RSS-backed BJP Central Government's policies like beef ban, attack on universities, and on CAA-NRC issue. He wasted no time to pass a resolution in the assembly against the scandalous CAA. A strong political campaign was also launched by the left front outside the assembly. A massive human chain from one end to the other end of Kerala was organized against CAA-NRC.

The state government also filed a suit in the supreme court against the law. Pinarayi was at the forefront of these all political actions. His charismatic leadership gave much necessary breath for Kerala's left front which was suffering from the 2019 loksabha election debacle where the Congress-led United Democratic Front won 19 out of 20 parliament seats with the help of an anti bjp wave in Kerala.

If the left front won this election, it will be history in Kerala which is a state that always sees a change in guard every 5 years for many decades. Will Captain (as the left activists affectionately call him) Pinarayi create history? The answer is safely sealed in the ballot boxes.