Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Thrippunithura profile: CPM's M Swaraj won Congress stronghold in 2016, eyes second term

Thrippunithura Assembly Election 2021 | A former Congress stronghold, the Thrippunithura Assembly seat is currently held by the CPM. The Thrippunithura Assembly constituency will vote on 6 April, 2021, along with the rest of Kerala.

Congress strongman K Babu represented Thrippunithura for five consecutive terms from 1991 to 2016.

During his tenure as the Kerala excise minister in the previous Oommen Chandy cabinet, Babu faced corruption charges in the bar bribery scam. He resigned as the minister on 23 January 2016 after a court ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to file a case against him in relation with the scam. The Kerala High Court later stayed the order, after which Babu rejoined the cabinet on 1 February.

Babu’s winning streak in Thrippunithura ended in the 2016 election when CPM youth leader M Swaraj won the seat by 4,467 votes.

The CPM has fielded Swaraj in the upcoming 2021 polls. There were reports that the BJP may field ‘metro man’ E Sreedharan, a celebrated engineer known for spearheading the Delhi Metro project, in Thrippunithura, however, the saffron party has nominated Dr KS Radhakrishnan instead.

Thrippunithura is one of the few seats where the Shiv Sena has fielded a candidate. The party has fielded Arun Babu PC as its candidate from the seat.

Also in the fray for the seat are: K Babu of Congress, CB Ashokan of SUCI (Communist) and Independent candidates KP Ayappen and Rajesh Pairod.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 election, CPM’s M Swaraj defeated sitting MLA K Babu with 62,697 votes. Swaraj got 58,230 votes, while BJP’s Thuravoor Viswambharan came third with 29,843 votes.

Total electors, voter turnout, population

Electors:
Thrippunithura has an electorate of 2,02,360, comprising 98,204 males, 1,04,155 females and one third-gender. There are 162 polling stations in the constituency.

Voter turnout:
In the 2016 Assembly election, Thrippunithura recorded a voter turnout of 77.7 percent. Of the 1,53,853 who cast their ballot, 76,944 were males and 76,909 were females.

Population:
The Thrippunithura Assembly constituency comprises Thripunithura Municipality; Kumbalam, Maradu and Udayamperoor panchayats; and ward numbers 11 to 18 of Kochi Municipal Corporation.

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.