Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Kanhangad profile: CPI hopes to retain stronghold, but new face likely to replace incumbent E Chandrasekharan

Considering that the Communist Party of India has a strict two-term policy, the incumbent MLA E Chandrasekharan will likely not have another chance to compete for the seat.

Kanhangad Assembly Election 2020 | Kanhangad is an Assembly constituency in the Kasaragod district of Kerala. It belongs to the parliamentary constituency of Kasaragod. The current MLA is the leader of the Communist Party of India, E Chandrasekharan, who is also Kerala’s Minister of Revenue and Housing.

Chandrasekharan had won the seat in 2016 for the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), which includes CPI, CPM and other left-wing parties, by a margin of more than 26,000 votes defeating his closest opponent Dhanya Suresh from Congress.

However, considering that the party has a strict two-term policy, the CPI is likely to face a new face from the Assembly constituency.

Winners and results of previous elections

The Kanhangad Assembly constituency is a stronghold of the LDF and the CPI’s Chandrashekharan has held the seat since 2011. The constituency was created after the 2002 delimitation exercise, and the first Assembly election was held in 2011.

In the 2011 elections, Chandrashekharan had received 66,640 votes against his closest competitor, MC José, Congress, who received 54,462.

Total voters, electoral participation, population

Electoral participation: Electoral participation in the Kanhangad Assembly Election 2016 was 78.66 percent, while the electoral participation in the 2011 elections it was 78.41 percent. The constituency has 196 polling stations according to the latest data from the Kerala Election Commission website.

Electors: According to the final electoral roll published on January 20, 2021, the Kanhangad Assembly has 2,14,080 voters, of which 1,02,509 voters are men and 1,11,569 women and two transsexuals.

According to the latest elecotrate data, the Kasaragod district (includes the Assembly segments of Kasargod, Udma, Kanhangad, Trikaripur and Manjeshwar) has 10,35,042 voters of which, 5,05,798 are men and 5,29,241 women. There are three registered third-gender voters in the district.

According to the Election Commission of India, Kerala has overall 2.67,31,509 voters, of which 1,29,52,025 are men, 1.37,79,263 are women and 221 third-gender voters.

Of the total registered voters, 90,709 are foreign voters. The 2021 Kerala Assembly election is the first time that state voters abroad will be able to cast their votes from abroad via postal ballots. The majority of overseas voters are men (84,860), followed by women (5,838) and 11 third-gender voters.

Population: According to the 2005 delimitation exercise, the electoral district of the Kanhangad Assembly includes the municipality of Kanhangad and Ajanur, Balal, Kallar,
Kinanoor-Karindalam, Kodom-Belur, Madikai and Panathady Panchayats in Hosdurg Taluk.

According to the 2011 census, of Kerala’s 3.34 million rupee population, 54.73 percent are followers of Hinduism, followed by 26.56 percent of followers of Islam and 18.38 percent of Christians. Hinduism is the main religion in 13 of the 14 districts of the state.

Malappuram is the only district in Kerala where Islam is the main religion, with 70.24 percent of the district’s total population following the religion.

The state has a small population that follows Jainism (0.01 percent), Sikhism (0.01 percent), Buddhism (0.01 percent), and 0.02 percent (other religions). Almost 0.26 percent in the state did not declare their religion during the 2011 census.

Election date and time

The Kerala / Niyama Sabha Assembly elections are likely to be held in April-May 2021 alongside Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.

The Kerala Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) has a total of 140 seats, of which 14 seats are reserved for scheduled castes and two seats are reserved for scheduled tribes.

The outgoing Assembly has eight female MLAs and the remaining 132 are male MLAs. The Kerala Niyamasabha holder will expire on June 1, 2021.

Political alliances and Kerala

Elections in Kerala have traditionally been a contest between the UDF and the LDF with a power swing between the two groups.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress-led UDF had won 19 of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats relying on incumbency against the ruling LDF. However, repeating a similar feat in the Assembly polls will 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 break into the UDF vote banks, particularly in the districts of Thrissur, Ernakulam and Kottayam.

The NDA, which is shaping up to be a third front in Kerala, hopes to increase its tally in Assembly polls. However, with the BJP-led NDA falling short of expectations in 2020 local body polls despite making a profit, its ability to impact the UDF or LDF prospects in Assembly elections remains lacking. clear.

Of the seven segments of the Assembly that are part of the Kasaragod parliamentary constituency, five are with the LDF led by the CPM (four with the CPM and one with the CPI) while IUML, a constituent of the UDF led by Congress, it is the second largest party, winning the two remaining seats (Kasaragod and Manjeshwaram) in the latest Assembly polls.

BJP did not win any of the seven Assembly segments that are part of the Kasaragod parliamentary constituency in 2016.

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