Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Kothamangalam profile: CPM's Anthony John won seat in 2016 by 19,282 votes

Kothamangalam Assembly Election 2021 | The Kothamangalam Assembly constituency, home to a sizeable farming community, is located in the Ernakulam district of Kerala.

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

Past election results and winners

Though the constituency has mostly elected UDF candidates to the Assembly, CPM won the seat twice: in 1967 and in 2016.

Kerala Congress (Jacob) founder TM Jacob and senior Congress leader VJ Paulose have each represented Kothamangalam for three terms. While TM Jacob held the seat from 1980 to 1991, Paulose held it from 1991 to 2001.

TU Kuruvilla won the seat two times: in 2006 on a Kerala Congress ticket, and in 2011 as a Kerala Congress (Mani) candidate.

In the 2016 election, Kuruvilla lost to CPM first-timer Anthony John by 19,282 votes. John received 65,467 votes whereas Kuruvilla received 46,185 votes. Former Tamil Nadu additional chief secretary PC Cyriac, who contested as an Independent, came third with 12,926 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors:
Kothamangalam has 1,65,428 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 82,537 male voters, 82,890 female voters and one third-gender voter in the constituency. The constituency has 157 polling stations.

Voter turnout: The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 80.09 percent. A total of 1.27 lakh voters of the total 1.59 lakh registered electors cast their vote.

Population: The Kothamangalam Assembly constituency comprises Kothamangalam municipality; and Kavalangad, Keerampara, Kottappady, Kuttampuzha, Nellikkuzhi, Pallarimangalam, Pindimana and Varappetty 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.