Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Kuttiady profile: IUML's Parrakal Abdullah is eyeing second consecutive term in upcoming polls

Kuttiady Assembly Election 2021 | Kuttiady was formed after remapping and renaming the erstwhile Meppayur Assembly constituency during a delimitation exercise.

During the maiden Assembly election in 2011 in Kuttiady, CPM fielded district secretary P Mohanan’s wife KK Lathika, the sitting Meppayur MLA at that time. Lathika won a second term in the office, defeating Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) Soopi Narikkatteri with a 6,972-vote margin.

However, the 2016 election result came as a surprise to the CPM, which thought the election would be a cakewalk. Lathika’s bid for a third term failed as IUML’s Parrakal Abdullah won the seat by a margin of 1,157 votes.

Ahead of the 2021 election, Abdullah has revealed that he will fight for a second term in the office.

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

Past election results and winners

In 2011, KK Lathika polled 70,258 votes (49.32 percent vote share) against IUML’s Narikkatteri, who polled 63,286 votes. In 2016, Lathika’s vote share fell to 44.77 percent (70,652) as she lost the seat to IUML’s Abdulla(71,809 votes).

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Kuttiady Assembly constituency has 1,96,176 registered electors who can vote in the upcoming 2021 election. The constituency has 95,409 male voters, 1,00,756 female voters and 11 third-gender voters. There are 64 polling stations in Kuttiady.

Voter turnout: In 2011, Kuttiady recorded a polling percentage of 87.17. The election witnessed 1.41 lakh of 1.62 lakh registered voters exercise their franchise.

The turnout fell to 84.97 percent in 2016, with 1.56 lakh voters of 1.84 lakh registered ones coming out to vote.

Population: The Assembly constituency consists of Ayancheri, Kunnummal, Kuttiadi, Purameri, Thiruvallur, Velom, Maniyur and Villiappally 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 current Kerala Niyamasabha session will expire on 1 June, 2021.

Political alliances in 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.