Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Aranmula profile: CPM's Veena George wrested seat from Congres in 2016, seeks return

Aranmula  Assembly Election 2021 | The Aranmula is Assembly constituency falls in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. The candidates in the fray in Aranmula are incumbent CPM MLA Veena George, BJP’s Biju Mathew, Congress’s Advocate K Sivadasan Nair, Ambedkarite Party of India’s Omalloor Ramachandran, Anna Democratic Human Rights Movement Party of India’s Santhi Omalloor, and Independents Arjunan CK, Prasanth Aranmula, Sivadasan Nair and SG Sugathan. The Aranmula Assembly constituency will vote on  6 April, 2021 , along with the rest of Kerala.

Past election results and winners

CPM’s Veena George had won the election from Aranmula in 2016 with a margin of 7,646 votes. She had received 64,523 (39.97 percent) votes while the runner-up candidate and outgoing MLA Congress’ Advocate K Sivadasan Nair received 56,877 (35.23 percent) votes. BJP’s MT Ramesh emerged as the second runner-up with 37,906 votes (23.48 percent). In the 2011 election, COngress’ Sivadasan Nair had won the seat receiving 64,845 votes (47.69 percent). He had defeated CPM’s KC Rajagopalan by a margin of 6,511 votes. While Rajagopalan received 58,334 (42.9 percent) votes, BJP’s Advocate K Haridas received 10,227 or 7.52 percent votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Aranmula has 2,33,365 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 1,10,404 male voters and 122960 female voters and one transgender voter in the constituency. Aranmula has 246 polling stations. Voter turnout: The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 70.84 percent, whereas the turnout was 65.63 percent in 2011. Population: The Aranmula Assembly constituency comprises Pathanamthitta Municipality and Aranmula, Chenneerkara, Elanthoor, Kozhenchery, Kulanada, Mallapuzhassery, Mezhuveli, Naranganam and Omalloor Panchayats in Kozhenchery Taluk and Eraviperoor, Koipram, Thottapuzhassery Panchayats in Thiruvalla Taluk. As per Census 2011, of Kerala’s 3.34 crore population, 54.73 percent are followers of Hinduism, followed by 26.56 percent followers of Islam and 18.38 percent Christians. Hinduism is the major religion in 13 of the state’s 14 districts. Malappuram is the only district in Kerala where Islam is the major religion with 70.24 percent of the district’s total population following the religion. The state has a tiny population that follows Jainism (0.01 percent), Sikhism (0.01 percent), Buddhism (0.01 percent) and 0.02 percent (other religions). Nearly 0.26 percent in the state didn’t state their religion during the 2011 Census.

Election date and timing

The Kerala Assembly/Niyama Sabha polls will be held on  6 April, 2021 , along with Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The day will also see phase three polls in Assam and West Bengal. The Kerala Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) has a total number of 140 seats, of which, 14 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and two seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. The outgoing Assembly has eight female MLAs and rest 132 are male MLAs. The incumbent Kerala Niyamasabha will expire on 1 June, 2021.

Political alliances and Kerala

Elections in Kerala have traditionally been a contest between the UDF and the LDF with power swinging between the two groups. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress-led UDF had won 19 out of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats banking on incumbency against the ruling LDF. However, repeating a similar feat in the Assembly polls is going to be an uphill task for the UDF. The LDF has not only managed to overcome anti-incumbency in the 2020 local body polls but also managed to make inroads into UDF votebanks, particularly in Thrissur, Ernakulam, and Kottayam districts. The NDA, which is emerging as a third front in Kerala, will be hoping to increase its tally in the Assembly polls. However, given that the BJP-led NDA didn’t meet the expectations in the 2020 local body polls despite making gains, its ability to impact either the UDF’s or LDF’s prospects in the Assembly election remains unclear. Of the seven Assembly segments that are part of the Kasaragod Parliamentary constituency, five are with the CPM-led LDF (four with CPM, and one with CPI) while IUML, a constituent of the Congress-led UDF, is the second-largest party, winning the remaining two seats (Kasaragod and Manjeshwaram) in the last Assembly polls. BJP didn’t win any of the seven Assembly segments that are part of the Kasaragod Parliamentary constituency in 2016.