Silent campaign in Thiruvananthapuram

Shashi Tharoor interacting with the electorate in Thiruvananthapuram on the day of ‘silence period’ on Thursday.

Decibel levels went several notches down, a day after the high-octane campaign finale that brought several parts of Thiruvananthapuram district to a standstill for several hours.

However, there was no end to the political bickering among candidates of the Lok Sabha elections during the “silence period” of the second phase of the polls on Thursday, even as they revisited various segments to shore up their vote bases.

Shashi Tharoor visited various institutions including monasteries before taking a short break at the District Congress Committee office, where he interacted with volunteers of an election call centre there. The candidate chipped in by dialling a few people to seek their support at the hustings.

Expressing confidence of a record fourth win in the constituency, Mr. Tharoor refrained from indulging in a protracted quarrel with his rival candidates over who has the edge in the triangular contest in Thiruvananthapuram. He, however, quipped the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Left Democratic Alliance (LDF) jostled with each other for the second spot.

LDF candidate Pannian Raveendran hit back at the Congress leader, accusing him of being politically immature for treating his opponents with contempt. Reiterating his claim that he competed against NDA’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar for victory, Mr. Raveendran said the Congress vote base has eroded over the years.

“It could be his (Mr. Tharoor) lack of experience in public life that has him making such unrealistic claims. I have lived in the State capital more than he has to understand the pulse of the electorate,” the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader said. He toured Parassala, Neyyattinkara and Kovalam on the day.

Mr. Chandrasekhar, who met people from various cross-sections at his residence, claimed both the UDF and the LDF are wary of the momentum created by the NDA as agents of change. “This is a competition between two discredited parties, who are allies in the INDIA bloc. But, the people of Thiruvananthapuram want to move away from a time-warp that Thiruvananthapuram has been stuck in for several decades,” he said.

He also accused his rivals of attempting to spread fear among various sections including minority communities. “They have been striving to convince the Muslim community on who is the principal opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I have met many members of the community and they too aspire for growth, education, investments, skills and jobs. Such brazen strategies will not work for either of them,” the BJP leader said.

Attingal:

The LDF, UDF and NDA candidates in the Attingal constituency were busy with private programmes, including house visits and visiting areas where they could meet the maximum number of voters in a short span of time on the eve of polling day

.LDF candidate V Joy visited colonies at Maikonam near Nagaroor in the Chirayinkeezhu taluk in the morning, while UDF candidate Adoor Prakash visited houses of voters, including marriage functions, and visited the election committee offices of the UDF in the constituency to take a final review of the polling arrangements. The campaign managers of all three candidates were also busy mobilising the maximum number of voters to firm up their vote bases as part of the silent campaign.

Further, they have coordinated the booth-level squads that made a last-minute effort to ensure their votes by knocking at the doors of people with voting slips in the morning. Meanwhile, NDA candidate V. Muraleedharan will cast his vote at Kottaram booth, Ulloor, in Thiruvananthapuram at 7 a.m., while Mr. Joy will vote at the Government LPS, Perunguzhi, at 7 a.m. Mr. Prakash will go to Konni in Pathanamthitta to exercise his franchise and is expected to return to Attingal by 9 a.m. (EOM)