Thiruvanathapuram: Statistics released by Kerala’s Crime Records Bureau show that the conflict-ridden political scenario in Kerala has taken a turn for the worse .

Since the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 2014, and by the assumption of office by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, led the Communist Party of India (Marxist)—CPI(M)—in May 2016, supporters of the CPI(M) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have had a series of physical encounters in the state, resulting in frequent bloodshed and violence.

The number of killings has increased substantially on both sides over the years, particularly in Kannur district, the fortress of the CPI(M).

According to the records during 2006–17, 107 were reported to have been killed; 50 of them from CPI (M) , 42 from the BJP , 5 each from the Congress party and Muslim League, 3 from National Democratic Front (NDF) and 1 each from CPI and JDU (Janata Dal United).

12 people were reported killed in political violence in the first three months of 2017 alone.

Kerala also recorded the third-largest number of political murders (12) in India in 2015, after Jharkhand(15) and Uttar Pradesh(28). More than a quarter of these murders were in Kannur district.

According to official records by CPI(M) , the number of deaths in the history of the state so far is 564. Around 400 of them were killed by political opponents, while others were killed in accidents, strikes and revenge attacks by landlords.

On the other hand, RSS maintains that almost 300 of their supporters were killed by political violence after 1969, including 13 in the past one year alone.

Crimes in general have registered a substantial increase over the last decade in Kerala—from over 2,50,000 cases in 2008 to more than 7,00,000 cases in 2016, a nearly threefold rise . According to an estimate as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) , the rate of cognisable crime in Kerala is the highest in India at 723.2 cases per 1,00,000—more than three times the national average of 234.

Hormis Tharakan, the former Director General of Police of Kerala, points out that the increase in number of such cases is due to an effective system of registering cases and recording even minor cases, unlike other states where a good number of such crimes go unrecorded.