Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Neyyattinkara profile: CPM's KA Ansalan had wrested seat from Congress' R Selvaraja in 2016 polls

Neyyattinkara Assembly Election 2020 | Neyyattinkara is an Assembly constituency in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It falls under the Thiruvananthapuram Parliamentary constituency. KA Ansalan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the sitting MLA of this constituency. Ansalan, a first-time MLA was Neyyattinkara’s area secretary for the CPM party. He had won the elections in 2016 on the promise of providing 24-hour potable water supply and a better transportation system for the industrial town. However, this time around a long-standing demand for making Neyyattinkara a separate district may also be a dynamic to be considered in the election. None of the political parties have declared their candidates yet. This article will be updated to reflect the latest political developments in due time.

Past election and results

Neyyattinkara has long been a difficult seat with both the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) coming within striking distance of each other. The seat is currently represented by KA Ansalan of the CP(M), a first-time MLA, who defeated R Selvaraja, a two-time MLA in the 2016 Assembly Election with 9,543 votes. Selvaraja had won the state elections in 2011 on CP(M)’s ticket. But a bypoll was necessitated in 2012 after he defected to Congress. Selvaraja retained his seat in the bypoll on a Congress ticket but lost the seat to Ansalan in 2016. In the 2012 bypolls, Selvaraja had defeated CPM’s F Lawrence with over 6,000 votes while in 2011 state polls he had defeated Congress’ Thampanoor Ravi with 6,702 votes. 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. 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. 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 75.26 percent of registered voters had come out to vote in the Neyyattinkara Assembly. Population and demography: Neyyattinkara Taluka of Thiruvananthapuram district has a total population of 8,80,986 as per the Census 2011. Out of which 4,31,698 are males while 4,49,288 are females. The Average Sex Ratio here is 1,041, which is much higher than the national average of 943 as per 2011 Census. Of the total population, 46.4 percent people live in Urban areas while 53.6 percent live in rural areas. The average literacy rate in urban areas is 92.6 percent while that in rural areas is 90.5 percent. Of the total population, 9.8 percent belongs to the Scheduled Castes (SC) category while Schedule Tribes (ST) constitute 0.4 percent of the total population. In the region, 55.2 percent people follow Hinduism, followed by 38.07 percent followers of Christianity. Over 6 percent of people in Neyyattinkara follow Islam.