Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Thiruvananthapuram profile: Congress' two-time MLA VS Sivakumar looking to save seat again

Thiruvananthapuram Assembly Election 2021 | Thiruvananthapuram is an Assembly constituency in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It is one of the seven Assembly seats that fall under the Thiruvananthapuram Parliamentary constituency. The election to the state will be held on 6 April and results will be out on 2 May. The seat came to be known as Thiruvananthapuram only in 2011 after delimitation. It was known as Trivandrum West between 1977 to 2006 and as Trivandrum-1 before that. VS Sivakumar of Congress is the sitting MLA of this constituency, while Congress’ Shashi Tharoor is the current MP from the Lok Sabha seat. Sivakumar has retained the seat for two consecutive elections and is now trying his luck for the third time. He faces Janadhipathya Kerala Congress leader Antony Raju, who is the Left Front’s candidate from the seat. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Krishna Kumar in the race. In the last state polls, the BJP had fielded former cricketer S Sreesanth from the seat who came in third place after Raju. Past election and results  Thiruvananthapuram is currently represented by VS Sivakumar of the Congress, who is the sitting MLA for the past 10 years. He won the 2016 votes by a margin of 10,905 votes against JKC’s Raju. In the 2011 polls, Sivakumar had defeated V Surendran Pillai of the then united Kerala Congress. But the party has since disintegrated into many factions, JKC being one of them. In the 2011 polls, the BJP had fielded ex-cricketer Sreesanth, who had managed to amp up the party’s vote share but had finished third in the race nonetheless. The BJP, which is looking to make its presence felt in the state, had polled 10.76 percent votes in the 2011 elections and managed to garner 27.54 percent votes in 2016. 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 vote-banks, 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. The Thiruvananthapuram constituency has 2,00,281 registered voters ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections of which 97,179 are male and 1,03,079 are female. Twenty-three voters have identified themselves as the third gender. 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 65.19 percent of registered voters had come out to vote in the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency, of which 65.55 percent were male and 64.86 percent were females. Population and demography: Total population of Thiruvananthapuram district is 3,301,427 as per census 2011. Hinduism constitutes 66.46 percent of the Thiruvananthapuram population. Muslims are in minority in the Thiruvananthapuram district, forming 13.72 percent of the total population here.

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 current Kerala Niyamasabha session will expire on 1 June, 2021.