Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the CPI(M) in Kerala made all out efforts to woo the Muslim vote banks in the state by highlighting issues like CAA, it not only failed in gaining benefits from it but also suffered cracks in the traditional Hindu-Ezhava vote banks.
Ezhava, which is an OBC community, is the largest Hindu community in Kerala and used to be considered as pro-left.
As per the assembly segment-wise analysis of votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured majority in 18 seats, of which 11 were won by the Left-front in 2021 assembly elections. At Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram, which was the maiden seat won by the BJP in Kerala Assembly in 2016 but lost to the CPI(M) in 2021, the BJP secured a margin of over 20,000 votes this time.
With regard to the Muslim vote banks, the Congress-led UDF got an upper hand in the Muslim dominated north Kerala seats like Malappuram and Ponnani. Vote share of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which is a coalition partner of Congress, went up from 5.5 percent in 2019 to 6.07 percent.
Vellappally Natesan, who is the general secretary of Ezhava community body Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), said on Friday that the Ezhava and other backward communities were not getting justice from the Left-front. "The left-front is now more focused on minority appeasement. This is the reason why there is a shift in the votes of Ezhava and other backward communities," he said.
However, political commentator M N Karassery told DH that alliance of BDJS, which is a political party having links with SNDP, with BJP could be the reason for the shift in Ezhava votes from the Left-front to NDA. He also said that the CPM's efforts to woo the Muslim vote banks did not yield benefit as the anti-Modi stand of the party was not so convincing since Pinarayi Vijayan did not attack the PM during the electioneering.
Meanwhile, the CPM state leadership met on Friday for the first time after the rout it faced in the Lok Sabha polls. The party decided to review the election results and come out with corrective measures.
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