BJP tried laborious to consolidate Hindu votes and nearly succeeded in Manjeshwar

Express News Service
KASARAGOD: Somashekhara J S, the Congress panchayat president of Enmakaje, is heaving a sigh of reduction.

The Manjeshwar meeting election — by which IUML’s A Okay M Ashraf defeated BJP state president Okay Surendran by 745 votes — was about proving his mettle as a Congress satrap within the border panchayat surrounded by Hindutva politics.

For the BJP, Enmakaje was essential to Surendran successful in Manjeshwar. It has the most important inhabitants of Hindu voters and provides it the largest lead — round 2,288 votes — over the UDF among the many eight panchayats.

The occasion’s ministers and MLAs from Karnataka camped within the panchayat for 3 months particularly persuading the Hindu voters of the Congress and CPM to vote for the BJP. The panchayat-wise break-up of votes proves that the BJP swayed loads of Congress and the LDF voters in Enmakaje however was simply not sufficient.

The panchayat has round 13,000 Hindu voters, 4,000 Muslim voters, and 300 Christian voters. “We worked hard to get the votes of 10,000 Hindus. It was tough but we tried,” stated Udaya Chettiyar, the BJP’s mandalam president of Enmakaje panchayat.

The BJP bought 8,772 votes and widened its lead over the UDF to 4,322 votes from 2,288 votes within the 2019 byelection. “It is a big achievement but it was not enough,” stated Chettiyar.

Enmakaje is the one panchayat in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar constituencies with a Congress president. Somashekhara stated BJP ministers and leaders had been targetting the Congress voters in Enmakaje for years now. “Before the election, I was approached by RSS and BJP leaders in Karnataka to the party,” he stated.

Another panchayat that disrupted the BJP’s plan was Puthige, a small panchayat managed by the CPM. It anticipated the Hindu voters of the LDF would soar ship to the BJP. “But we did not get enough votes in Puthige either,” stated Chettiyar.

In the 2019 byelection, the BJP had a lead of 434 votes over the UDF in Puthige. In 2021, its lead elevated to 742 votes.

BJP’s former district president V Raveendran stated the occasion targetted to get 10,000 votes in 4 panchayats — Mangalpady, Paivalike, Kumbla, and Enmakaje.

The occasion bought 9,583 votes in Mangalpady, 9,227 votes in Paivalike, 9,556 votes in Kumbla, and eight,772 votes in Enmakaje panchayat — falling wanting the goal by 417 votes to 1,228 votes. 

The occasion didn’t fall quick for need of effort. “No other party could claim to have worked hard as we did. Except for Paivalike, there just was not enough voters to woo,” he stated.

Muslims take the left laneYet, Ashraf’s victory margin was right down to 745 votes from 7,923 votes M C Kamaruddin bought within the 2019 byelection. There are two causes for that, stated CPM chief V P P Mustafa, who was the ballot supervisor for LDF candidate V V Rameshan. 

One, the rising recognition of the LDF amongst Muslims, and two, the BJP ran buses and introduced within the most variety of non-resident voters from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, and Mumbai. “IUML does the same every election but this time it did not do but BJP did,” he stated.

In Mangalpady panchayat — the citadel of the IUML — the UDF was anticipating a lead of seven,000-9,000 votes over BJP, relying on the worst and best-case eventualities. But the UDF bought a lead of solely 5,801 votes. 

At the identical time, the LDF polled 6,309 votes. “We usually get around 4,000 to 4,500 votes,” stated Mustafa. 

Asked for the explanation, he stated Muslims, notably ladies and Urdu-speaking Muslims, regarded chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan as a hero. “We campaigned in both BJP-dominated areas and in Muslim-dominated areas. The acceptance we got in Muslim areas was encouraging,” he stated.

A UDF chief stated a number of native Congress leaders tried to swing round 5,000 occasion votes to the BJP in Meenja, Vorkady, Kumbla, and Manjeshwar panchayat. “That is why Mullappally (Ramachandran) took anticipatory bail and tried to blame the LDF after polling. But the reality was they could not transfer even 500 votes,” he stated.

With the BJP respiratory down the neck of the UDF with each passing election, will Manjeshwar ever fall in its kitty? “For the BJP, it is a long process,” stated Raveendran of the BJP. In this election, he stated, round 83,000 Hindu votes and 83,000 Muslim votes had been polled and the BJP bought round 65,000 votes. “We will come back again with a stronger campaign,” he stated.

Mustafa of the CPM stated two slender victory margins for the IUML would result in the consolidation of Muslim votes in favour of the UDF in future elections. “As of now, 30% of the CPM’s members in Manjeshwar are Muslims. In other panchayats such as Trikaripur and Padna where the IUML is strong, our Muslim membership is only 5%,” he stated. 

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But the house for secular politics is shrinking in Manjeshwar as a result of each the IUML and the BJP harp solely on spiritual identities. “This time we held on to our 2019 vote share. But it will become difficult if the BJP and the IUML continue with the communal campaigns during elections,” he stated.