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Antony faces a tough fight

Sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and Vemband lake, Cherthala assembly constituency in Kerala's Alappuzha district is the stage for a tough fight between two battle-hardened senior leaders - A K Antony of the Congress and C K Chandrappan of the Communist Party of India.

Antony, seeking re-election, faces a tough resistance from Chandrappan at the place which had seen the Punnapra Vayalar uprising that eventually turned out to be a milestone in the growth of communist movement in Kerala.

In 1996, the then Chief Minister Antony had defeated sitting MLA Chandrappan by a margin of over 8,385 votes.

Chandrappan was out of action during electioneering last time due to a fractured leg. He is now concentrating on house to-house to campaign, while Antony, being the leader of the United Democratic Front, cannot afford to do this as he also has to tour the state campaigning for the front .

''Antony, being a state leader, does not have time to look after the constituency and the problems of his voters. Chandrappan, on the other hand, is always with us and is accessible. So, it is better to elect Chandrappan,'' says Kesavan, an agriculture labourer.

However, Antony has a strong support base here, says Dhanapalan, a lottery agent.'' We vote for Antony not on the basis of caste or party. It is his uncompromising stand on principles and simple life-style which makes him dear to us.''

The constituency has about 140,000 voters, a majority of them small farmers and fish and coir labourers, and sprawls over Cherthala municipality and six panchayats.

The LDF had won four panchayats and the lone municipality comfortably in the local bodies elections in mid 2000. The front had won the Cherthala municipality with a two-third majority. The UDF had to be content with two panchayats.

In 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the lead of V M Sudheeran, another Congress leader with an unblemished image who contested the Alappuzha seat, from Cherthala assembly segment had dwindled by over 4,000 votes.

Past results show that the constituency has given a slight preference to the left parties. In fact, in 7 out of the 11 elections so far, Cherthala has elected communist-backed candidates.

Only in 1965, 1982, 1987 and 1996, it returned candidates who did not enjoy the support of either of the two major communist parties.

There are many factors which could influence the electoral fortunes of the rival candidates in Cherthala which, inspite of being surrounded by water, is afflicted with acute shortage of drinking water.

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