The Congress, buoyed by the forceful win in the Puthuppally Assembly byelection, perceives a clear path to victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and beyond after being turfed out of power in two consecutive Assembly elections in 2016 and 2021.
A preliminary post-poll analysis by the United Democratic Front (UDF) leadership felt that the Puthuppally campaign could serve as a template for future elections.
The UDF said the early announcement of Chandy Oommen’s candidature, coalition unity that ensured concordant political messaging, cyclical knock-on-doors campaign at the booth level, family meetings, and tacit support of community leaders gained through covert bridge building helped the Opposition carry the day in Puthuppally.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the UDF successfully ran an anti-incumbency campaign that turned out voters in enough numbers to send a clear message to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). It would repeat the win in future elections.
He said voters found Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s “obstinate refusal to address corruption scandals dogging his office and family” disdainful. Mr. Satheesan cast the bypoll as a litmus test of the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s acceptability.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala claimed that CPI(M) workers voted for the United Democratic Front (UDF) overwhelmingly. He said they wreaked revenge on the Pinarayi Vijayan government, which was “communist only in name and had failed the people on all fronts”.
“CPI(M) could not get a convincing lead in any booth or panchayat though it controlled a majority of the local bodies and cooperative societies in Puthuppally,” Mr. Chennithala said.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran said the voters admonished the government for its corruption. He said Mr. Oommen’s historic win in Puthuppally dispelled the CPI(M) ‘s impish insinuation that the Congress benefitted from BJP votes.
Congress Working Committee member K.C. Venugopal and Mr. Sudhakaran said the byelection victory painted a truly ominous picture for the CPI(M). The political message from Puthuppally would echo in future elections.
A succession of UDF leaders sought to cast the party’s win in the byelection as a litmus test of the government.
Indian Union Muslim League State general secretary P.M.A. Salam said the LDF had tested the limits of voters’ patience by failing to curb food inflation and exacerbating the cost of living crisis by hiking fuel, power and water charges.
The ripples set off by the UDF’s decisive reassertion of its dominance on its home turf in Puthuppally and the drastic reduction of CPI(M) votes compared to the 2021 Assembly poll are likely to resonate in the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign for the opposing alliances.
