Kerala Local Elections: Second Phase to Test Future of India’s First Corporate-Run Panchayat

Five districts – four from central Kerala and one from the north – will go to polls on Thursday, December 10, in the second phase of the local body elections in the state. The five districts – Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad – are going to polls, and aside from traditional political fronts, a corporate sponsored non-profit organisation called Twenty20 Kizhakkambalamis also in thefray.

Across the state, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led-Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) alongside the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are the major parties. Unlike other panchayats across the state, Kizhakkambalam Panchayat in Ernakulam district had seen Twenty20 winning 17 wards out of the total 19.

Interestingly, the Congress had been winning the panchayat elections till 2015. In the 2010 local body elections, the Congress had won 15 seats in the panchayat; the remaining four seats had been bagged byindependent candidates. However, the scenario flipped in 2015; Twenty20 seized power from the Congress.

Twenty20, an ‘apolitical’ team, is promoted by Anna- Kitex group. Sabu M. Jacob, the MD of Kitex group, is the coordinator of Twenty20, an organisation which has been presented as an alternative to existing political parties. Many who despised traditional political parties were taken in by the organisation’s ideas, with Kizhakkambalam becoming the first corporate-ruled panchayat across the country.

In January this year, Kizhakkambalam panchayat president K.V. Jacob, who was part of Twenty20, stepped down from his presidential post in response to Jacob’s total control over affairs. According to him, the president and panchayat members had no say in any project. “The projects were implemented as Sabu wished. Those who favoured him got the benefits,” said KV Jacob.

“The governance here is in violation of all established practices of administration in a democratic system because of which around Rs 5 crore of government funds lapsed over the past three years. Mr. Sabu Jacob meddles in all matters related to governance and it is impossible to put up with his autocratic ways,” Jacob pointed out when asked what was happening in the corporate-run panchayat.

Jacob added that several projects which had been undertaken by the panchayat were pending. “Only contractors of Twenty20 took up the projects. Other contractors would be threatened. Contractors of Twenty20 extended the work as per their wish. Though the panchayat committee and Twenty20 members are fed up with Sabu’s autocratic nature, they do not react out of fear,” added Jacob.

When the ex-panchayat president had raised these concerns, Jacob had levelled corruption charges against him. However, following the incidents, two journalists, who had gone to Kizhakkambalam in February this year to cover the entire episode, were attacked by a mob led by the incumbent panchayat president and Twenty20 members.

The LDF and UDF are determined to defeat Twenty20 this time. The CPI(M) is contesting from 17 of 19 sets for the LDF while the CPI is contesting two seats. A determined Left has kick-started their campaign quite early.

“We haven’t discussed the possibility of joining hands with other political parties over a common cause. Our campaign is centred around exposing how the Twenty20 dispensation sabotaged many State government schemes like LIFE Mission in the panchayat and failed in utilising funds by emerging 69th among the 82 panchayats in the district. Even the formal faithful of that outfit is now convinced of its undemocratic ways,” Jins T. Mustafa, secretary of the CPI(M) Kizhakkambalam local committee, told The Hindu.

Twenty20 is the main rival for the Congress-led UDF top. The former expanded its reach from Kizhakkambalam, fielding candidates in all wards in neighbouring Mazhuvannoor, Aikkaranadu, Kunnathunadu, and in nine wards of Vengola panchayat.

Several other groups like Twenty20 have come up across the state during the local body elections. A group called Thiruvananthapuram Vikasana Munnettam (TVM) had contested the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation elections. They had been advocating for the privatisation of Thiruvananthapuram airport for the “development” of the city, and had fielded candidates in 12 out of the total 100 wards.

In Kochi, a new outfit called ‘V for Kochi’ has entered the election fray with the slogan “Power to the people” and fielded candidates in 39 seats.

O Thursday, voters from 8116 wards in 451 local body institutions in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad will cast their vote in the second phase. A total of 98,57,208 voters including 47,28,489 men, 51,28,361 women, 93 transgenders, 265 NRIs will cast their votes. Among them, 57,895 people are first-time voters. 12,643 polling booths are arranged in the five districts.