Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Thrissur profile: LDF backs CPI's P Balachandran against actor Suresh Gopi of BJP

Thrissur Assembly Election 2021 | Thrissur is a high-profile Assembly constituency where Congress heavyweight Therambil Ramakrishnan served as the MLA for seven terms from 1982. The Thrissur Assembly constituency will vote on  6 April, 2021 , along with the rest of Kerala.

Past election results and winners

CPM won the seat in 2016 after a gap of over 30 years when VS Sunilkumar emerged victorious by 6.987 votes. Sunilkumar had received 53,664 votes in the 2016 polls, whereas Congress’s Padmaja Venugopal had emerged as the runner-up securing 46,677 votes. BJP nominee B Gopalakrishnan had received 24,748 votes. Sunilkumar is serving as the agriculture minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan government, however, is not contesting the polls this time. CPM has, in fact, passed the seat to LDF ally CPI, which has fielded P Balachandran from the seat. Balachandran will be up against BJP candidate actor Suresh Gopi from the seat. Meanwhile, the UDF has fielded Congress general secretary and 2016 runner-up Padmaja Venugopal from the seat.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Thrissur has an electorate of 1.75 lakh, comprising 83,445, 91,878 and three third-genders. It has 157 polling stations in the Assembly constituency. Voter turnout: Over 1.2 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the 2016 election, of whom 60,950 were males and 65,210 were females. The constituency recorded 73.29 percent voter turnout. Population: The Thrissur Assembly constituency comprises ward numbers 1 to 11, 14 to 22, 32 to 39 and 43 to 50 of Thrissur Municipal Corporation. 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.