Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Wandoor profile: AP Anil Kumar, named in 2013 solar scam sexual harassment case, won seat in 2016

Wandoor Assembly Election 2021 | Wandoor is a Scheduled Caste-reserved Assembly constituency in the Malappuram district of Kerala. Since its formation in 1977, the constituency has been a Congress stronghold; the 1996 election was the only time when a non-Congress candidate won the seat.

CPM leader N Kannan’s victory by 4,201 votes in 1996 came as shock to the UDF. In 2001, Congress recaptured the seat and its winner AP Anil Kumar has been representing the constituency since then.

Kumar, who is currently serving his fourth consecutive term, had two stints as a minister in the Kerala government: from 2004 to 2006 (welfare of scheduled communities and youth cultural affairs departments), and from 2011 to 2016 (tourism and backward communities development departments).

The sitting Wandoor MLA is an accused, along with former chief minister Oommen Chandy and four others, in a sexual harassment case linked to the 2013 solar scam. The LDF government recently decided to forward the case to the CBI, drawing sharp criticism from the Congress.

Senior Congress leader KC Joseph called the development ahead of Assembly elections “politically motivated”.

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

Past election results and winners

In 2016, Anil Kumar bagged the Wandoor seat for the fourth time securing 81,964 votes, which was 52.59 percent of the total votes polled in the constituency. CPM runner-up K Nishanth, who garnered a 37.28 percent vote share, polled 58,100 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Wandoor has 2.2 lakh registered voters, of whom 1.09 lakh are male and 1.11 lakh are female. There are 204 polling stations in the Assembly constituency.

Voter turnout: Wandoor recorded 74.01 percent voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election. A total of 1.55 lakh electors (74,381 male and 80,948 female) exercised their franchise.

Population: The self-governed segments that come under the Wandoor Assembly constituency are Chokkad, Kalikavu, Karuvarakundu, Mampad, Porur, Thiruvali, Thuvvur and Wandoor panchayats in Nilambur 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.