 "Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Perumbavoor profile: Congress' Eldhose Kunnappilly won seat in 2016")
Perumbavoor Assembly Election 2021 | Perumbavoor, located in Ernakulam district, is where the UDF and the LDF have both scored an equal number of Assembly wins. The Perumbavoor Assembly constituency will vote on 6 April, 2021 , along with the rest of Kerala.
Past election results and winners
Congress strongman PP Thakachan had a long stint as the Perumbavoor MLA, with consecutive victories in 1982, 1987, 1991, and 1996. Thakachan’s winning streak ended in 2001 when he faced a shocking defeat by young CPM leader Saju Paul. Perumbavoor was the only constituency in Ernakulam where the UDF failed to win that year. Paul retained the seat in the 2006 and 2011 elections. However, in 2016, Paul’s bid for a fourth term was quashed by Congress leader and former district panchayat president Eldhose Kunnappilly. He secured the win with 64,285 votes while then-incumbent MLA Saju Paul had lost the seat with 57,197 votes. Jacobites form a considerable part of the electorate in Perumbavoor, and the past three legislators —Thakachan, Paul and Kunnappilly — hail from the Jacobite community.
Total electors, voter turnout, population
Electors: There are 1,79,455 registered voters in Perumbavoor who can exercise their franchise in the 2021 Assembly election. The electorate comprises 88,993 males and 90,462 females and there are 170 polling stations in the Assembly constituency. Voter turnout: Perumbavoor recorded 83.91 percent voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election. Over 1.4 lakh electors cast their votes, of whom 72,582 were males and 72,492 were females. Population: The Perumbavoor Assembly constituency comprises Perumbavoor municipality; and Asamannoor, Koovappady, Mudakkuzha, Okkal, Rayamangalam, Vengola and Vengoor panchayats in Kunnathunad 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.