Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Konni profile: Congress' Adoor Prakash won last five elections

Konni Assembly Election 2021 | The Konni is Assembly constituency falls in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. Congress has won the last five elections from the seat. This year, Congress has fielded Robin Peter from the seat. Peter faces Advocate KU Jenish Kumar of the CPM, K Surendran of the BJP, Raghu P of the Anna Democratic Human Rights Movement Party of India, Suku Balan of the Ambedkarite Party of India, and Independent candidate Manoharan. Konni is one of the Assembly segments of the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency. It will vote on  6 April, 2021 , along with the rest of Kerala.

Past election results and winners

Congress’ Adoor Prakash had won a fifth consecutive term from Konni in 2016. He had won the seat with a margin of 20,748 votes receiving 72,800 (50.81 percent) votes. The runner-up candidate was Advocate R Sanal Kumar of the CPM. Kumar had received 52,052 (36.33 percent) votes. BJP’s Asoka Kumar D emerged as the second runner-up with 16,713 votes (11.66 percent). Prakash has won every election from the seat since 1996. In the 2011 election, the Congress leader had won the seat receiving 65,724 votes (50.15 percent). He had defeated CPM’s MS Rajendran by a margin of 7,774 votes. BJP’s VS Harish Chandran emerged as the second runner-up with 5,994 votes (11.66 percent).

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Konni has 200210 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 94,441 male voters and 1,05,769 female voters in the constituency. Konni has 212 polling stations. Voter turnout: The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 73 percent, whereas the turnout was 71.86 percent in 2011. Population: The Konni Assembly constituency comprises Aruvappulam, Konni, Malayalapuzha, Pramadom, Mylapra, Vallicode and Thannithode Panchayat in Kozhenchery Taluk and Enadimangalam and Kalanjoor Panchayats in Adoor Taluk and Chittar and Seethathodu Panchayats in Ranni 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.