Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Muvattupuzha profile: CPI’s Eldho Abraham wrested seat from Congress in 2016

Muvattupuzha Assembly Election 2021 | The Muvattupuzha Assembly constituency is located in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. A traditional stronghold of the Kerala Congress and Congress, Muvattupuzha has favoured the CPI on a few occasions, including the 2016 Assembly polls.

The Muvattupuzha Assembly constituency will vote on 6 April, 2021, along with the rest of Kerala.

Past election results and winners

KM George won the first two elections in Muvattupuzha — held in 1957 and 1960 — as a Congress leader. After the Kerala Congress was formed under George’s leadership, members from his party and its breakaway factions began winning elections in the constituency.

PC Joseph won on a Kerala Congress ticket in 1977, while VV Joseph won two terms as a Kerala Congress (Joseph) candidate and Johnny Nellore won three terms as a Kerala Congress (Mani) candidate.

Nellore failed to win a fourth term and lost the seat to CPI's Babu Paul in 2006. The Congress took over the seat in 2011 with its strongman Joseph Vazhakkan.

In 2016, CPI’s Eldho Abraham, a former standing committee chairman of Payipra gram panchayat, won the seat by defeating Vazhackan by 9,375 votes. Abraham had polled 70,269 votes in the election while Vazhackan received 60,894 votes. BJP’s PJ Thomas came third with 9,759 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Muvattupuzha has 1,84,603 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 91,740 male voters, 92,862 female voters and one third-gender voter in the constituency. The constituency has 153 polling stations.

Voter turnout: The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 79.79 percent. A total of 1.41 lakh voters of the total 1.77 lakh registered electors cast their vote.

Population: The Muvattupuzha Assembly constituency comprises Muvattupuzha municipality; and Arakuzha, Avoly, Ayavana, Kalloorkad, Manjalloor, Marady, Paipra, Palakkuzha and Valakom panchayats in Muvattupuzha taluk; and Paingottoor and Pothanicad panchayats in Kothamangalam 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.