Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Aruvikkara profile: Congress holds 100% strike rate but LDF swept last local body polls in area

Aruvikkara Assembly Election 2021 | Aruvikkara is an Assembly constituency in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It falls under the Attingal Parliamentary constituency. The election to the state will be held on  6 April  and results will be out on 2 May. KS Sabarinadhan of Congress is the sitting MLA of this constituency, while Congress’ Adoor Prakash is the current MP from the Lok Sabha seat. While Congress has given Sabarinadhan another chance, CPM has fielded G Steephen from the seat. Also in the fray are BJP’s C Sivankutty and BSP’s Krishnakutty M. Past election and results Aruvikkara is relatively a new seat that came into existence after the 2008 delimitation exercise. The seat is currently represented by KS Sabarinadhan of the Congress, who first came to power in the 2015 bypolls necessitated by the death of then Congress MLA G Karthikeyan. Sabarinadhan defeated CPI’s M Vijayakumar by a margin of at least 10,000 votes. In the 2016 Assembly election, he defeated CPM’s AA Rasheed by over 21,000 votes. The area that falls under the constituency has traditionally voted for Congress even before the delimitation was done. The United Democratic Front (UDF) has swept the Assembly elections in the past three decades here. However, the recent local body elections witnessed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) winning in all panchayats except one seat, according to  The Hindu. 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 vote-banks, 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. In the local body polls, however, the people have shown a clear preference towards the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). Since 1979, only once, in 2010, has the United Democratic Front (UDF) upset the apple cart.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: According to the  Election Commission of India, the total number of registered electors in the state is 2,67,31,509, including 1,29,52,025 male, 1,37,79,263 female and 211 third gender voters. In the  district of Thiruvananthapuram alone, there are 27,69,272 voters of which 13,15,905 are male and 14,53,310 are female. There are 57 third-gender voters in the district. The Aruvikkara constituency has 1,89,862 registered voters ahead of the 2021 elections of which 89,800 are male and 10,0061 are female. One voter has identified themselves as the third gender. Voter Turnout: The overall voter turnout during the 2016 Assembly election was 77.35 percent. The percentage voter turnout of women voters excluding the postal ballot was 75.97 percent and that of men voters excluding postal ballot was 78.14 percent. At least 75.76 percent of registered voters had come out to vote in the Aruvikkara Assembly constituency, of which 76.67 percent were male and 74.96 percent were females. Population and demography: Total population of the Thiruvananthapuram district is 3,301,427 as per Census 2011. Hinduism constitutes 66.46 percent of the Thiruvananthapuram population. Muslims are in minority in the Thiruvananthapuram district, forming 13.72 percent of the total population here.

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 current Kerala Niyamasabha session will expire on 1 June, 2021.