From 50 Years Ago: Election Prospects.

The stage is set for the mid-term elections in Kerala to be held on February 1. There are 300 candidates contesting for 126 seats. There will be straight contest for 70 seats. The Communist Party has put up 103 candi-dates and is actively backing 23 independ-ents, including one Lohia Socialist. The Con-gress-Praja Socialist-Muslim League Alliance has 125 candidates in the field – Congress 80, PSP 33 and Muslim League 12. The other par-ties who are also contesting and the number of candidates put up by them are: Revolution-ary Socialist 18, Kerala Socialist 12, Lohia So-cialist 3, Jan Sangh 3 and Karnataka Samiti 2. The Karnataka Samiti stands for the ces-sion of Kannada speaking territory on the border to Mysore. Considering that no linguistic appeal can be entirely ignored, the Congress has not put up any candidate for one of these seats. All these minor parties not-withstanding, the contest is going to be be-tween the Communists and the Alliance. What are the election issues? The Commu-nists seek a verdict on (a) the unconstitutional methods adopted by the Vimochan Samiti to unseat the government which commanded a majority in the Legislative Assembly and on the unwarranted Central intervention; and (b) the need for a stable government to under-take economic and social reforms for the prosperity of the land.