Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Eranad profile: IUML's PK Baseer won second term in 2016

Eranad Assembly Election 2021 | The Eranad Assembly seat, which comes under the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency, is held by the IUML of the UDF.

Eranad will vote on 6 April, 2021, along with 139 other constituencies in Kerala.

Controversial politician and sitting MLA PK Basheer, who is currently serving his second consecutive term, won the 2016 election by 12,893 votes.

During his tenure, the IUML MLA’s speeches have landed him in trouble several times. While in 2012, he was booked for inciting the murder of two brothers, in 2018, his criticism of the Supreme Court did not go down well with his party colleagues.

It is unclear if Basheer will seek re-election in the 2021 Assembly election. The Hindu quoted sources as saying that IUML state treasurer PV Abdul Wahab, whose Rajya Sabha tenure will end in April, has expressed his desire to contest from Eranad.

Meanwhile, former football player U Sharaf Ali is likely to contest as an LDF-backed candidate in the constituency.

Past election results and winners

PK Basheer successfully contested and won the elections held in Eranad since the last delimitation exercise.

While in 2011, the IUML leader secured 58,698 votes against Independent candidate PV Anver’s 56,155 votes, in 2016, he got 69,048 votes and Independent runner-up KT Abdurahiman received 55,831 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: According to the final electorate published in January, Eranad has 1.74 lakh registered voters, of whom 88,425 are male and 85,660 are female. The Assembly constituency has 159 polling stations.

Voter turnout: In 2016, Eranad recorded 83.96 percent voter turnout. Over 1.3 lakh out of the total 1.65 lakh registered voters exercised their franchise.

Population: The Eranad Assembly constituency comprises Chaliyar panchayat in Nilambur taluk and Areekode, Edavanna, Kavannoor, Kizhuparamba, Urangattiri and Kuzhimanna panchayats in Eranad 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.