Chittur Assembly Election 2021 | Chittur, home to a considerable farming community, is an Assembly constituency in Palakkad district where the socialist movement found ground during the 60s.
Prior to 1996, Samyukta Socialist Party won two terms, while the CPI won four and the Janata Dal won three.
Congress’ K Achuthan represented the constituency for four terms from 1996. After severe water shortage in the region became a major poll issue, Achuthan lost the seat in 2016 to JD(S) leader K Krishnankutty by 7,285 votes.
A farmer by profession, Krishnankutty had previously won the seat in 1980, 1982 and 1991. He became the Kerala water resources minister in 2018 after replacing JD(S) leader Mathew T Thomas in the cabinet.
During the 2020 local body election, the UDF suffered its first defeat in 70 years in the Chittur-Thathamangalam municipality. As the LDF came to power by winning 16 out of the 29 wards, the Youth Congress blamed Achuthan and his son Sumesh for the loss, alleging that they denied tickets to deserving leaders.
Ahead of the 2021 Assembly election, reports have indicated that the LDF is likely to allot the Chittur seat to JD(S), while Congress is considering Sumesh’s candidature in the constituency.
Past election results and winners
In the 2016 Assembly election, K Krishnankutty polled 69,270 votes, defeating sitting MLA K Achuthan who had received 61,985 votes. BJP nominee Sasikumar M came third with 12,537 votes.
Total electors, voter turnout, population
Electors: Chittur has 1,84,578 registered voters—comprising 90,315 males, 94,262 females, and one third-gender—who can exercise their franchise in the 2021 Assembly election. There are 156 polling stations in the constituency.
Voter turnout: Chittur witnessed 82.78 percent voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election. Out of the 1.53 lakh electors who cast their vote, 75,871 were males and 77,824 were females.
Population: The Assembly constituency comprises Chittur-Thathamangalam municipality; and Eruthempathy, Kozhinjampara, Nalleppilly, Pattanchery, Perumatty, Vadakarapathy, Peruvemba and Polpully 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.
March 10, 2021 at 11:48PM
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