Is Kerala really inclusive? 33 charts about MLAs in new assembly show there’s still work to be done
There are only seven women in the 140-member assembly. Besides, caste and community exclusion works at the local level. May 13, 2021 · 07:30 am Pinarayi Vijayan and his family celebrate the victory of his Left Democratic Front in the state elections. | PTI
What are the representational outcome of the 2021 Kerala State election? What is the sociological composition of the new assembly and what has been the representation trajectory of various groups and communities, as well as other variables of social diversity such as gender and religion, over time?
30 charts dissecting the Kerala verdict: LDF victory comes against backdrop of Congress decline
Even though they have identical vote shares, the CPM has nearly three times the number of seats as the Congress. Yesterday · 09:00 am Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of the Left Democratic Front addresses a rally in March. | @vijayanpinarayi via Twitter.
Kerala has just experienced a remarkable election. As Pinaravi Vijayan led the Left Democratic Front to victory, for the first time in 44 years, a chief minister will serve a consecutive term. This brings to an end to the electoral swing that has sent parties back and forth from government to the opposition.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala stands out among India’s major states for the fact that it has more women in the population than men. Add to that the fact that it is India’s most literate state, the logical assumption would be that women will have their place in the sun.
When it comes to electoral representation, however, women in Kerala have been sidelined, a fact that has once more been underlined though the outcome of the latest assembly election which was historic for the fact that it gave a repeat term for the Left Democratic Front.
Unfair to women
India has been discussing a 33 per cent share for women in Parliament for over two decades with that ambition far from being fulfilled. It did not materialise even when the United Progressive Alliance was in power for a decade and a woman – Sonia Gandhi – was the UPA chairperson.
With Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan scripting a new political history in Kerala by becoming the first sitting government to retain power, all eyes are on the badly hit Congress, which leads the United Democratic Front, as never before has such .
However, the Trinamool boss, who paid a big price for underestimating Modi s pull in the LS polls, was alive to the challenge this time. She blunted the Hindutva charge by flaunting her credentials as a Shandilya Brahmin who could recite the ‘Chandi Path’ and, perhaps more crucially, whipped up nativist sentiments by cautioning the electorate against outsiders and unleashing “Joy Bangla as a counterweight to Jai Shri Ram.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visits Kalighat Temple (PTI photo)
The feisty leader, who burst into the limelight by taking on CPM cadres during the over three-decade-long ‘red’ hegemony, also turned the foot injury she suffered into attack ammo to punish BJP, which was hamstrung by the lack of an organisation and a face which could even remotely rival Banerjee a weakness that helped the CM cast herself as Bengal s own daughter. The dramatic collapse of CPM and Congress facilitated her task, with anti-BJP sections coalescing around her.