Unhappy Keralites campaign for Nota

The campaign for the omnipresent ‘contestant’ is more virulent than the AAP campaign in many places. Local groups in many places are coming together and appealing to the people to press the Nota button in the voting machine to press their various demands. Drinking water is the major issue in most places.

The campaign for Nota votes on the issue is vigorous in three villages under Alathur Lok Sabha constituency. Residents of Kozhinjambara, Vadakarapathy and Eruthenpathy villages have replaced the campaign materials of political parties there with posters and banners seeking votes for Nota. Groups of residents, including priests and members of local bodies, are going around all houses requesting the voters to press the Nota button as a mark of protest against the failure of political parties to fulfill their nearly four-decades old promise to build a canal from Aliyar River to solve not only the drinking water but also the irrigation needs of the three villages, which are now dependent on tanker lorries.

“Every political party has been repeating the promise during election. But they become untraceable after the election. They return only during the next election only to repeat the promise. We will vote for them in the next election if they learn a lesson from Nota and build the canal,” said Palani Swamy, a member of the Kozhinjambara village. More than 70 per cent of population in these three villages are Tamils and the remaining Ezhavas. The Chittur Assembly segment under which these villages come is a Congress stronghold while the Alathur Lok Sabha constituency is a Communist Party of India (Marxist) bastion.

Similar campaign for Nota votes on the drinking water issue has also gained strength at Vypin in Ernakulam, Kuttanad in Aleppey and in many other places. The people in these places no more trust political parties. They believe Nota may move them.

Strong campaigning for Nota votes over other issues is also on in other constituencies too. Railway commuters at Chirayinkil under Attingal constituency in Trivandrum are seeking Nota votes for development of the railway station and more halts for major trains. Parties rattled by the campaign have removed the flex boards put up by the commuters at the railway station and other places in the town.

Besides residents in a particular locality, people belonging to various sections across the state are also considering the Nota option as an alternative to the conventional protests. A section of the nurses and teachers have joined hands for Nota for hike in their wages and amenities.

The mounting Nota campaign has forced many candidates to interact with such groups. Alathur CPM candidate P.K. Biju said that his party leadership was talking to the locals at Kozhinjambara to find a permanent solution to their drinking water problem.

Political parties in the state are not sure about the impact of Nota votes since this is the first election being held in the state after the introduction of Nota. Many of them are not taking it seriously since it did not make much impact in assembly elections in five states, where the option was introduced for the first time.

AAP was pinning hopes on Nota votes because the number of Nota votes in the Delhi Assembly elections was negligent. The party hopes that the people who abstained from voting in the previous elections because of their losing faith in the traditional parties will vote for the party. But the mounting Nota campaign has belied their hopes.

news@khaleejtimes.com

• India