Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Peravoor profile: Congress' Sunny Joseph won last two elections in UDF stronghold

Peravoor Assembly Election 2021 | Peravoor was formed in 1977, when the number of Assembly constituencies in Kerala was increased to 140. Earlier, Peravoor was a part of Irikkur constituency, which only elected Communist representatives to the Assembly till the 1970 election.

Peravoor Assembly constituency will vote on 6 April, 2021 along with 139 other constituencies in the state.

After becoming an Assembly constituency, Peravoor became a UDF stronghold. Congress leader KP Noorudeen won the seat five consecutive times, representing Peravoor from 1977 to 1991. He served as a minister from 1982 to 1987 in the K Karunakaran Cabinet — holding forests, animal husbandry, and sports portfolios.

CPM has only managed to win the seat once, in 2006, when its popular leader KK Shailaja contested the Assembly election. After the last delimitation exercise, Shailaja sought re-election in 2011 but lost to Congress leader Sunny Joseph by a 3,340-vote margin. Joseph went on to win a second term in the office in 2016, defeating CPM candidate Binoy Kurian.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 Assembly election, Joseph defeated CPM’s Kurian by a margin of 7,989 votes. While Joseph received 65,659 votes, Kurian got 57,670 votes. BJDS leader Paily Vathiattu came third with 9,087 votes.

In 2011, Joseph secured 56,151 votes against the then sitting MLA Shailaja, who polled 52,479 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Peravoor has 1.72 lakh registered electors (comprising 84,648 male, 88,090 female and one transgender), who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There will be 158 polling stations across the constituency.

Voter turnout: In the 2016 Assembly election, Peravoor witnessed a voter turnout of 80.97 percent. A total of 1.35 lakh (65,830 male and 69,872 female) of 1.65 lakh registered voters showed up to exercise their franchise.

Population: Peravoor is located in Kannur district. The Assembly constituency consists of Aralam, Ayyankunnu, Kanichar, Keezhur-Chavassery, Kelakam, Kottiyoor, Muzhakkunnu, Payam, and Peravoor panchayats.

Kannur district is home to 22.5 lakh people—of whom 10.98 lakh are male and 11.5 lakh are female.

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