Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Mananthavady profile: CPM's OR Kelu clinched narrow victory against Congress' PK Jayalakshmi in 2016

Mananthavady Assembly Election 2021 | Mananthavady in Wayanad district is one of the two Assembly constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in Kerala.

Home to tribal sects and farmers, the constituency was formed during the last delimitation exercise by attaching Kelakam and Kottiyur panchayats from Kannur district.

In the first Assembly election, Congress leader PK Jayalakshmi won with a margin of 12,734 votes against CPM’s KC Kunhiraman.

In 2016, Jayalakshmi, who was the tribal development minister, and a few of her colleagues in the outgoing Oommen Chandy cabinet faced several corruption allegations. This led to her failed re-election bid and CPM leader OR Kelu won the seat by a 1,308-vote margin.

A vigilance court recently acquitted Jayalakshmi in the case. According to reports, Mahila Congress has demanded from the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee that Jayalakshmi be fielded from the constituency again in the upcoming 2021 election.

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

Past election results and winners

Electors: In 2011, Jayalakshmi won the maiden election from the constituency by securing 62,996 votes. Her CPM rival Kunhiraman polled 50,262 votes, while BJP’s Irumuttoor Kunhaman got 5,732 votes.

In 2016, CPM’s Kelu secured 62,436 votes against Jayalakshmi, who got 61,129 votes. BJP candidate K Mohandas came third with 16,183 votes.

In the recently-held December 2020 local body election, UDF won the Mananthavady municipal election, while the LDF bagged the Mananthavady block panchayat.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: According to the final electorate published in January, Mananthavady has 1.91 lakh registered voters, of whom 95,268 are male and 96143 are female. The Assembly constituency will have 173 polling stations in the upcoming election.

Voter turnout: In the 2016 Assembly election, Mananthavady recorded 77.3 polling percentage. Of the total 1.48 lakh voters who turned out, 71,643 were male and 73,208 were female.

Population: Mananthavady Assembly constituency comprises Edavaka, Mananthavady, Panamaram, Thavinhal, Thirunelly, Thondernad and Vellamunda panchayats.

Wayanad district is home to 8.17 lakh people. 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.