LDF Releases Election Manifesto With 60-Point Program, 950 Pledges For 'Nava Keralam'

Kozhikode: The Left Democratic Front released its manifesto for the Keralam Legislative Assembly elections on Thursday, presenting a 60-point program and 950 specific pledges aimed at carrying forward what it described as the comprehensive progress achieved over the past decade of LDF governance. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the manifesto at a function in Kozhikode, attended by LDF Convenor T P Ramakrishnan, CPI leader Prakash Babu, K Krishnankutty, A K Saseendran, and Elamaram Kareem, among others.

The manifesto is framed as a vision to transform Keralam into a knowledge society within five years, and opens with a recounting of the state's progress in the last ten years under LDF rule. Each pledge is accompanied by a detailed explanatory note. The document also references the national and international recognition Keralam has received across various sectors over the past ten years. It is presented explicitly as a commitment rooted in secularism and as a resistance to the continued neglect by the central government.

Key Pledges

The manifesto promises to eradicate absolute poverty, building on the widely noted elimination of extreme poverty under LDF governance. Welfare pensions, raised from ₹600 during the previous UDF government's tenure to ₹2,000 over the past decade, are pledged to be further enhanced to ₹3,000.

On employment, the front promises guaranteed campus placements for educated youth, a Back to Campus scheme, and interest-free loans for entrepreneurship. Women's advancement is addressed through pledges to provide job opportunities to 50 per cent of women and to guarantee work for 20 lakh homemakers.

In education, the manifesto promises to raise higher education to world-class standards, address learning gaps in public schools, and expand technical education. Salary revision for government employees is also committed, along with measures to rein in inflation and protect the rights of workers.

Among the infrastructure pledges are power cut-free Keralam, smart road networks, a high-speed rail corridor and expanded rail connectivity, strengthened water transport and Water Metro services, and a new people's planning campaign for 'Nava Keralam'. The manifesto also commits to expanding the public sector, growing tourism, launching Mission 100000, modernising plantation and traditional industries, increasing support prices for farmers, turn KSRTC profitable and reducing human-wildlife conflict.