THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The backward community woke up to the realization that neglect and injustice had crossed all boundaries. Many of the strongholds of the organized forces were uprooted. The main reason for the heavy setback suffered by the Congress and the UDF in the local body elections is no other.

The anti-backward attitude of the Congress leadership, which was unwilling to accept the fact that there was no member of the Ezhava community in the UDF ranks in the Assembly, had reached a climax in the last organizational elections. This was followed by the selection of candidates in the local elections.

The Congress contested 17,000 of the 22,000 seats in 1,200 local body institutions. Of these, less than 600 seats were reserved for the Ezhavas, the most powerful community. Vishwakarmajar had less than 50 seats. Ezhava's representation in the list of Congress candidates in 600 grama panchayats was zero. In the last phase of candidate selection, Kerala Kaumudi came out with figures but the party leadership ignored it.

The Ezhava participation was cut down in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Kasaragod districts. Here the UDF collapsed. In the Kannur Corporation, where there was a due consideration for the community, UDF managed to win.

One of the main reasons for the UDF's pathetic defeat in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was the eviction of backward communities in the nomination process. The Ezhava community had just 6 seats in the 100-seat corporation while 60 seats were given to the Nair community. When the result came, the Front won a total of 10 seats. Out of the 80 seats, Congress has 8 seats.

The Congress did not give a single seat to the Ezhava community in the 12th division in the Vamanapuram block, the division LDF swept. In the Venjaramoodu district panchayat division, Sunithakumari, a backward community member and Mahila Congress leader, was given the first seat. Sunita was replaced after the campaign went too far. The seat was given to a person from the forward community. Sunitha even complained to KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran but he did not listen. As a result, the party fell head over heels in the sitting seat.