Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Tarur profile: Kerala's SC/ST welfare minister AK Balan won reserved seat in 2016

Tarur (SC) Assembly Election 2021 | The SC-reserved Tarur Assembly constituency came into existence in 2011 after a delimitation exercise in Kerala. It was formed by clubbing parts of the erstwhile Kuzhalmannam Assembly segment and Alathur. CPM has represented the Assembly seat since its inception, with legislator AK Balan winning the 2011 and 2016 polls by over 23,000 votes. Balan had earlier also won from Kuzhalmannam in 2001 and 2006. He is currently serving as a minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet, holding portfolios of the welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes, law, culture and parliamentary affairs. The CPM, however, has dropped Balan as the party candidate from the constituency and has fielded DYFI leader PP Sumod from the seat.

Past election results and winners

CPM’s AK Balan won the 2016 election by polling 67,047 votes against Congress runner-up C Prakash, who got 43,979 votes. The sitting MLA garnered a vote share of 52.25 percent, a drop from 57.15 percent in 2011.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Tarur has an electorate of 1.66 lakh, of which 81,891 are males and 84,704 are females. The constituency has 148 polling stations. Voter turnout: Tarur had a voter turnout of 78.89 percent in the 2016 Assembly election. A total of 1.29 lakh electors had exercised their franchise, of whom 62,075 were males and 66,947 were females. Population: The Assembly constituency comprises Kannambra, Kavasseri, Kottayi, Kuthanur, Peringottukurissi, Puducode, Tarur and Vadakkencheri 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.