Voters in Peyyad Junction in Thiruvananthapuram stand in front of a hoarding of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPM candidate I.B. Satheesh | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrint
Cochin: Covering the election in Kerala is unlike any other in the country.
The vigil against Covid-19 remains a top priority, with health workers posing like mannequins when you land at Thiruvananthapuram airport.
Second, people only speak Malayalam — very little Hindi or English. Once you get past the language barrier, it is amazing to see the courtesy that parties opposed to each other tooth-and-nail offer their political opponents.
Fourth, the chicken roast is better than anywhere else in the world. Fifth, CPM party flags are everywhere, in villages and urban areas — a lesson in how to paint the state red and not allow any saffron to intervene. And as for the geography that changes every hundred kilometres. The cliche is so true of Kerala — This is truly God’s own country.
CPM candidate I.B. Satheesh (left) and general secretary Sitaram Yechury (right) in a poll chariot | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintKerala’s health workers in PPE suits welcome you when you land at Thiruvananthapuram airport | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintTheyyam dancer at the parade for Sitaram Yechury in Peyyad Junction, Thiruvananthapuram | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintStudents at the Cotton Hill government girls school in Thiruvananthapuram, whose parents variously work as electrician, tailor, help in a provision store, etc, study 3 languages (Malayalam, English & Hindi) and compulsory IT classes. This and 43,000 schools across the state have been refurbished by the Left Front government | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintSreemayi, a transgender woman looks at herself on her phone before a TV panel discussion on ‘women and politics’ | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintAtul Pratap and his mother Omana own ‘FoodBox,’ a small hotel in Thiruvananthapuram, which serves amazing chicken roast and beef curry | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintThe office of Sobha Surendran, the BJP candidate from Kazhakootam constituency, who got the ticket after fighting against her own party leaders. She will take on CPM heavyweight Kadakampally Surendran, outgoing minister-in-charge of the Sabarimala shrine | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintCPM party flags in Choonadu village in central Kerala | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintCPM party flags are everywhere in Kerala — here in the middle of a coconut-palm oasis | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintHoardings in a Kerala village outside Cochin. Along with the Left and Congress candidates, note the hoarding of the candidate of the Twenty20 party, a new outfit floated by the Kitex company, whose symbol is the pineapple | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintA fruit seller waits for customers in a Kerala village | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintParty flags at a roadside fruit and vegetable stall in Choonadu village | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintChief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who hopes to win this election again for the Left Front, attends a yoga camp in his village Pinarayi in Kannur district in north Kerala | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintPraying at Kerala’s oldest mosque in Kozhikode, the Mishkal Palli, built in the 13th century by Nakhuda Mishkal, who traded spices between India, China and the Arab world | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrintDrummers lead the procession for CPM candidate I.B. Satheesh in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo: Jyoti Malhotra | ThePrint
