Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Irikkur profile: Congress' KC Joseph won eighth term from constituency in 2016

Irikkur Assembly Election 2021 | Situated in Kannur district, the Irrikur Assembly seat is one of the seven Assembly segments that form the Kannur Parliamentary constituency. The seat had elected Congress’ KC Joseph for a consecutive eighth term in 2016. Joseph had first won the seat in 1982 as an Independent candidate and has retained it ever since. He retained the seat in the 1987 election, but as a Congress candidate, and has not lost even once since then. The Assembly constituency had last seen a tight contest in 2006 when CPI(M) had fielded James Mathew as a candidate. Joseph, however, managed to win the seat, but with a difference of just 1,831 votes. The Irrikur Assembly constituency will vote on 6 April, 2021 , along with 139 other constituencies from Kerala.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 election, sitting MLA Joseph had won an eighth term from the Irrikur constituency, receiving 49 percent or 72,548 of the total 1,48,072 that were polled in that election. CPI’s KT Jose was the runner-up in the election receiving 62,901 or 42.48 percent of the total valid votes. During the 2011 Assembly polls, Congress had polled a slightly higher 52.42 percent votes. Joseph had received 68,503 votes against Advocate P Santhosh Kumar of the CPI in the election. Kumar lost the election by a margin of nearly 11,757 votes. Congress, however, seems to have increased its vote share since the 2016 Assembly polls as the party polled 59.4 percent of the total votes from the Assembly segment during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Irikkur has 1,90,659 electors, which consists of 94,168 males, 96,490 females and one third-gender. There are 184 polling stations in the constituency. Voter turnout: A total of 1,48,072 electors or 78.59 percent cast their vote in the 2016 Assembly election, of whom 1,47,149 were general voters and 923 postal votes. The 2016 turnout was slightly higher than the 2011 Assembly election, which saw 77.26 percent turnout. A total of 1,30,094 of the total 1,68,376 electors had exercised their franchise in the 2011 poll. Population: The Irikkur Assembly constituency comprises Chengalayi, Eruvassy, Irikkur, Payyavoor, Sreekandapuram, Alakode, Naduvil, Udayagiri and likkal panchayats in Taliparamba 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.