Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Paravur profile: Congress strongman VD Satheesan won fourth term in 2016

Paravur Assembly Election 2021 | The Paravur Assembly constituency is a Congress stronghold in Paravur district of Kerala. The Paravur Assembly constituency will vote on 6 April, 2021, along with the rest of Kerala.

Past election results and winners

While LDF candidates represented the constituency from 1992 to 2001, the seat has been held by Congress strongman VD Satheesan since 2001.

In 2016, Satheesan won his fourth consecutive term, defeating CPI’s Sarada Mohan by 20,634 votes. Satheesan secured 74,985 votes while Mohan polled 54,351 votes. BDJS nominee Hari Vijayan got 28,097 votes.

The incumbent Paravur MLA is currently facing allegations that he accepted overseas aid for the flood rehabilitation project ‘Punarjani’ without the Centre’s approval.

In November 2020, The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau sought permission from the Speaker to conduct a probe against Satheeshan in connection with the allegation. However, the Kerala High Court in December dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe against Satheesan and said that the petitioner did not submit any documents to support the demand for a probe by a central investigation.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors: Paravur has 1,93,012 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 93,931 male voters, and 99,081 female voters in the constituency. Paravur has 175 polling stations.

Voter turnout: The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 83.45 percent. A total of 1.59 lakh voters of the total 1.91 lakh registered electors cast their vote.

Population: The Paravur Assembly constituency comprises North Paravur municipality; and Chendamangalam, Chittattukara, Ezhikkara, Kottuvally, Puthenvelikkara, Varappuzha and Vadakkekara 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 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.