Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Poonjar profile: Incumbent PC George eyes eighth term as Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) candidate

Poonjar Assembly Election 2021 | The Poonjar Assembly constituency is located in the Kottayam district of Kerala.

Incumbent MLA PC George is a former member of Kerala Congress (Secular). He is currently serving his seventh term in office, having won the seat in 1980, 1982, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016.

George, a veteran politician known for making controversial statements, had contested the 2016 election as an Independent after both the UDF and LDF refused to accommodate him. He retained the seat by 27,821, defeating KC(M) rival Georgekutty Augusty.

Ahead of the 2021 polls, Kerala Janapaksham (Secular), an outfit floated by George in 2019, announced him as their candidate in Poonjar.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 election, George won the Poonjar seat with 63,621 votes. While KC(M) runner-up Georgekutty August polled 35,800 votes, Independent candidate PC Joseph Ponnattu came third with 22,270 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors:
Poonjar has 1,85,832 registered voters who can vote in the upcoming Assembly election. There are 92,818 male voters, 93,012 female voters and two third-gender voters in the constituency. Poonjar has 179 polling stations.

Voter turnout:
The voter turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 79.15 percent. A total of 1.45 lakh voters of the total 1.83 lakh registered electors cast their vote.

Population:
The Poonjar Assembly constituency comprises Erumeli, Koottickal, Mundakayam, Parathode panchayats in Kanjirappally Taluk; and Erattupetta, Poonjar, Poonjar Thekkekara, Teekoy and Thidanad panchayats in Meenachil 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.