Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Kaipamangalam profile: CPM’s ET Taison won seat with over 33k votes in 2016

Kaipamangalam Assembly Election 2021 | Kaipamangalam is a CPM stronghold in the Thrissur district of Kerala. The Assembly constituency of Kaipamangalam came into existence during the 2011 election after a delimitation exercise in the state. CPM’s VS Sunilkumar successfully contested the 2011 polls, following which ET Taison retained the seat for the party in 2016 by 33,440 votes. The UDF faced a crisis in the constituency during the 2016 election after RSP’s pick KM Noorudheen opted out of the race. RSP later fielded MT Muhammed Nahas, who lost the seat to Taison. The Kaipamangalam Assembly constituency will vote on  6 April, 2021, along with the rest of Kerala.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 Assembly election, CPM’s ET Taison won by securing 66,824 votes. UDF runner-up Muhammed Nahas polled 33,384 votes, while BJP candidate Unnikrishnan Thashnath got 30,041 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: According to the final electorate published by the Election Commission in January, Kaipamangalam has 1,65,770 registered voters, of whom 77,005 are males, 88,760 are females and five are third-genders. There are 156 polling stations in the constituency. Voter turnout: The 2016 Assembly election had a poll percentage of 79.07 in Kaipamangalam. Of the 1.34 lakh voters who exercised their franchise, 60,180 were males and 74,096 were females. Population: There are seven panchayats in Kaipamangalam Assembly constituency, including Edavilangu, Edathiruthy, Eriyad, Kaipamangalam, Mathilakam, Perinjanam and Sreenarayanapuram. 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.