Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Palakkad profile: Firebrand Youth Congress leader Shafi Parambil won second term in 2016

Palakkad Assembly Election 2021 | The Palakkad Assembly constituency is known for its history of unpredictable election outcomes. In the recent past, while the CPM won the 1996 and the 2006 Assembly elections, the Congress won 2001, 2011 and the 2016 elections. Firebrand Youth Congress leader Shafi Parambil managed to retain the seat in 2016 by 17,483 votes due to the acclaim he won as a legislator. During his tenure, Parambil has openly voiced his criticism of the LDF government and even the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He was made the Kerala Youth Congress president in 2020. While the UDF is likely to keep the young lawmaker in the fray in the upcoming polls, the BJP, which had finished second in Palakkad during the 2016 Assembly election, has its eye on the seat and is considering its spokesperson Sandeep Varrier’s name from Palakkad. The BJP recently also retained power in the Palakkad municipality by winning in 28 out of 52 wards.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 Assembly election, Congress MLA Shafi Parambil was re-elected as the Palakkad MLA with 47,641 votes. While BJP runner-up Sobha Surendra polled 40,076 votes, CPM’s NN Krishnadas came third with 38,675 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: The Palakkad Assembly constituency has 1,84,310 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming election. The electorate comprises 89,851 males, 94,457 females and two third-genders. There are 180 polling stations in the constituency. Voter turnout: The 2016 Assembly election saw 77.01 percent voter turnout in the Palakkad constituency. Over 1.3 lakh electors, comprising 67,667 males and 69,428 females, exercised their franchise. Population: The Palakkad Assembly constituency has four self-governed segments under it: Palakkad municipality, and Kannadi, Pirayiri, and Mathur panchayats. 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.