Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Kongad profile: CPM fileds K Santhakumari from Left stronghold

Kongad (SC) Assembly Election 2021 | Formerly a Naxal hotbed, Kongad is a traditional Left stronghold in Palakkad district. An incident largely linked to this region is the 1970 murder case in which a landlord was beheaded by Naxals in ‘ one slash’. The Schedule Caste-reserved Kongad Assembly constituency came into existence in 2011 after a delimitation exercise. KV Vijayadas, a leader from the farming community, won the 2011 and 2016 Assembly polls for CPM by garnering over 45 percent vote share both times. In January, the election-bound constituency’s sitting MLA passed away following a brain haemorrhage due to post-COVID complications. The CPM has fielded K Santhakumari from the seat  for the 2021 polls, whereas other parties are yet to announce the name of their candidates from the seat. Reports have suggested that the Congress is trying to rope in popular Indian footballer IM Vijayan as its candidate from the Kongad constituency.

Past election results and winners

In 2016, Vijayadas polled 60,790 votes, while Congress runner-up Pandalam Sudhakaran got 47,519 votes. While Vijayadas had won the 2011 election by 3,565 votes, the margin of votes by which he won in 2016 increased to 13,271 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Kongad has 1,77,041 registered voters, of whom 86,967 are men and 90,074 are women. The Assembly constituency has 172 polling stations. Voter turnout: In 2016, Kongad recorded 77.13 percent voter turnout. Over 1.3 lakh votes exercised their franchise, comprising 65,162 men and 68,487 women. Population: The Kongad Assembly constituency comprises nine panchayats: Kanhirapuzha, Karakurissi, Thachampara and Karimba in Mannarkkad taluk; and Keralassery, Kongad, Mankara, Mannur and Parali in Palakkad 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.