<p>With barely three weeks for the Lok Sabha election, Kerala’s political parties are grappling with the fallout of defections, new alliances and the challenge from formidable opponents. <br /><br /></p>.<p>But this poll season, it’s business as usual for 36-year-old Abdul Khader–a song writer based in Kochi–as he works overtime in the recording studio, creating songs for the two warring political fronts with the same gusto. Kerala has been a flourishing market for “parody songs” since the 1990s, but a post-digital lull had hit the industry before Assembly and Lok Sabha elections revitalised the market. Abdul started out with election parodies in 1997. Seventeen years later, he has morphed into a busy producer churning out songs on demand both for the ruling United Democratic Front and the opposition Left Democratic Front.<br /><br />“This is a fairly easy season because it’s the Lok Sabha election. With 20 constituencies, there’s a maximum of only about 60 candidates to work for. With the Assembly election that covers 140 constituencies, it’s a different scene,” Abdul said. </p>
<p>With barely three weeks for the Lok Sabha election, Kerala’s political parties are grappling with the fallout of defections, new alliances and the challenge from formidable opponents. <br /><br /></p>.<p>But this poll season, it’s business as usual for 36-year-old Abdul Khader–a song writer based in Kochi–as he works overtime in the recording studio, creating songs for the two warring political fronts with the same gusto. Kerala has been a flourishing market for “parody songs” since the 1990s, but a post-digital lull had hit the industry before Assembly and Lok Sabha elections revitalised the market. Abdul started out with election parodies in 1997. Seventeen years later, he has morphed into a busy producer churning out songs on demand both for the ruling United Democratic Front and the opposition Left Democratic Front.<br /><br />“This is a fairly easy season because it’s the Lok Sabha election. With 20 constituencies, there’s a maximum of only about 60 candidates to work for. With the Assembly election that covers 140 constituencies, it’s a different scene,” Abdul said. </p>
