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Updated: Oct 20, 2019 23:30 IST

The stakes are high for three major players - the Congress-led UDF, CPM-led LDF and BJP - in Kerala as the crucial by-elections to five seats, often considered as the semi-final before the assembly elections due next year, will be held on Monday.

The state witnessed a noisy campaign this time and for the first time some caste-based outfits like the Nair Service Society have come out openly to support the Congress-led alliance. Like the opposition UDF and ruling LDF -- the stakes are high for the saffron party as well. At least three of the five seats are witnessing a fierce three-cornered contest.

Besides post-flood rehabilitation, the contentious Sabariamala issue, law and order and even the recent cyanide killings were discussed during the high-voltage campaign. PCC chief Mullapally Ramachandran was the first to drag the killings of six family members in north Kerala to the poll arena. He said the ruling party was trying to “deflect attention from the government’s repeated failures” but CPI(M)state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan retorted saying he was “lamenting the arrest of the real accused after many years.”

The police had arrested the prime suspect Jolly Jospeh and two of her accomplices on October 8 in connection with the alleged murder of six family members using potassium cyanide in a span of 14 years. The serial murders came to light after one of the family members filed a complaint citing eerie similarities in all six deaths.

Like the Lok Sabha elections, the entry of women in Sabarimala hill temple dominated the poll scene this time also. The UDF topped attacking both the union and the state governments-- citing the plight of devotees. The BJP had a tough time explaining Prime Minister Modi and party chief Amit Shah’s utterances during the LS campaign that “devotees’ sacrifices won’t be wasted.” Many who took part in the agitation are running pillar to post these days.

The by-elections are being held in Vattiyoorkavu assembly constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, Konni in Pathanamthitta, Aroor in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Manjeshwar in Kasaragod.Four of these seats fell vacant after legislators were elected to Parliament—K Muralidharan from Kozhikode, Adoor Prakash from Attingal, Hibi Eden from Ernakulam—all Congress and the CPI(M)’s lone MP from Alappuzha AM Arif. The death of Manjeshwar sitting MLA Abdul Razak, Muslim League leader, also made the bypoll necessary.

Having suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, losing 19 out of 20, the stakes are high for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. After the LS debacle, the opposition had sought his resignation but the party dismissed it saying it was a temporary setback. He said it more than once that the verdict in the bypolls will be a referendum on his government.

But the Congress said it will be a repeat of the Lok Sabha elections.“People are fed up with the corrupt regime. It will be another shock for the CPI(M) which is finding it difficult to survive in its last port,” said opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

And for the BJP which also drew a blank in the LS polls, it is an opportunity to prove it is not a pushover in the state.Interestingly, in the 2016 assembly election out of five, the BJP came second in two seats. Currently, the BJP has only MLA O Rajagopal in the assembly.“We are on second spot in two seats, we will emerge victorious in all,” said the party’s state unit president PS Sreedharan Pillai.