Decades-old LDF bastion faces fresh challenge in Gandhi Nagar

The Gandhi Nagar division of the Kochi Corporation has been a Left Democratic Front (LDF) stronghold, going by the electoral history of the division.

It has been more than four decades since the division last slipped from LDF control. The closest the United Democratic Front (UDF) came to wresting it in recent times was in 2020, when its candidate lost to eventual winner K.K. Sivan, a CITU leader in the city, by just 115 votes. So, when a by-election was declared the very next year following Mr. Sivan’s death after a prolonged battle with COVID-19, the UDF felt it had an opening.

UDF candidate Nirmala Teacher campaigning in Gandhi Nagar division ahead of the local body elections.
| Photo Credit:
R.K. Nithin

That a victory would have further destabilised the LDF governing committee, already surviving on a wafer-thin margin, served as an added inducement. But not only did the UDF lose the election, LDF candidate Bindu Sivan also ramped up her majority to 687 votes, nearly six times what her late husband had managed.

NDA candidate K.S. Sandhya reaching out to voters in Gandhi Nagar division as part of the election campaign.
| Photo Credit:
R.K. Nithin

That history is what gives the CPI(M)’s debutant candidate T. Mayadevi, an Ernakulam area committee member of the party and district committee member of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, confidence as she faces this election. Development remains the focus of her campaign. “Both the LDF council in the Corporation and the LDF government have carried out substantial development works, which this division has also benefited from. Samridhi@Kochi, She Lodge, and housing projects are a few examples. I have brought out a manifesto for the division focusing on the commoners’ needs. The priorities are addressing shortcomings in road and drainage development, improving facilities for the elderly and anganwadis, and creating a playground for children to encourage outdoor activity rather than screen addiction,” she said.

Congress candidate Nirmala Rajappan, popularly known as Nirmala Teacher, is also making her electoral debut. She believes that Congress is going all out this time, giving her hope of putting up a strong contest. Ms. Rajappan alleged that the LDF’s victory in the last by-election was due to bogus voting. “The lack of development in the division remains the focus of my campaign. One needs to see the situation in places like Kammattipadam to understand how bad it is. A single spell of showers leaves many areas waterlogged, flooding even households,” she said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate K.S. Sandhya, the party’s Ernakulam mandalam committee secretary, contested unsuccessfully from the division a decade ago, finishing third. “In the ten years since I last contested, nothing has changed in the division. Except for roads maintained using Central funds under Cochin Smart Mission Limited, other roads remain in a sorry state. Waste piles are visible everywhere, and drainage remains clogged. We can sense a real desire for change among people when we meet them,” she said.

Gandhi Nagar remains one of the largest in the Corporation by area. Delimitation has made little change, except for losing a negligible portion to the neighbouring Elamkulam division, and the division has an electorate of nearly 8,000.