Ambalappuzha Assembly Election 2021 | Ambalappuzha is a CPM stronghold in the Alappuzha district of Kerala where G Sudhakaran is currently serving his third term as the legislator.
While the Congress has won two Assembly polls—in 1987 and 2001—in the constituency, the Revolutionary Socialist Party has won one election (in 1977). Veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan had represented the Ambalappuzha seat from 1967 to 1977.
Sudhakaran is also the public works minister in the Pinarayi Vinayan cabinet. He retained Ambalappuzha in 2016 by 22,621 votes, defeating JD(U) rival Shaikh P Harriz.
Since CPM has a two-term norm for its MLAs, Sudhakaran not be in fray in the 2021 Assembly election.
The CPM has instead given a ticket to H Salam to take on Congress' DCC president M Liju and the BJP's Anoop Antony Joseph.
After news spread about H Salam’s candidature in the constituency, posters surfaced in March in Ambalappuzha and nearby Alappuzha demanding that Sudhakaran be given a ticket.
Past election results and winners
In the 2016 election, sitting MLA G Sudhakaran retained the seat with 63,069 votes. JD(U) runner-up Shaikh P Harriz polled 40,448 votes, while BJP’s LP Jayachandran 22,730 votes.
Total electors, voter turnout, population
Electors:
Ambalappuzha has 1,74,020 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 84,362 male voters, 89,657 female voters and one third-gender voter in the constituency. Ambalappuzha has 189 polling stations.
Voter turnout:
The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 78.52 percent. A total of 1.32 lakh voters of the total 1.68 lakh registered electors cast their vote.
Population:
The Ambalappuzha Assembly constituency comprises Alappuzha municipality ward numbers 20 to 44; and Ambalappuzha North, Ambalappuzha South, Punnapra North, Punnapra South and Purakkad panchayats in Ambalappuzha 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.
March 24, 2021 at 06:43PM
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