Kerala Assembly Election 2021, Manjeshwaram profile: Despite 2019 bypoll win, IUML faces stiff challenge from BJP

The BJP, which has been trying to wrest control of the seat for decades, is likely to up the ante in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Manjeshwaram Assembly Elections 2021 | Manjeshwaram or Manjeshwar is an Assembly constituency in the Kasaragod district of Kerala. It belongs to the parliamentary constituency of Kasaragod.

The current MLA is MC Karimuddin of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a constituent of the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Congress. The IUML leader had won the 2019 bypoll seat.

However, Karimuddin was arrested in November 2020 in a gold case.

Manjeshwaram is a UDF stronghold and the IUML won the seat five times in the last six elections, except in the 2006 elections, when the CPM won the seat. The BJP, which has been trying to wrest control of the seat for decades but has been unsuccessful, emerging as runner-up year after year. The saffron party is likely to up the ante in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Of the seven segments of the Assembly that are part of the Kasargod parliamentary constituency, five belong to the CPM-led LDF, while the Congress-led UDF has two seats.

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

The NDA, which is shaping up to be a third front in Kerala, hopes to increase its count in Assembly polls.

Winners and results of previous elections

IUML, which is part of the UDF, won the Manjeshwaram seat in the 2016 Assembly polls. However, MLA sit PB Abdul Razak died of a heart attack in October 2018, requiring a bypoll for the Assembly constituency. IUML retained the seat in the 2019 by-vote with party leader MC Kamaruddin winning by a margin of 7,923 votes.

In the 2016 Kerala Assembly elections, Razak won the Manjeswaram seat as part of the UDF alliance.

It had received 56,870 votes.

He defeated his closest opponent, K Surendran, who is also the head of the Kerala BJP, by a slim margin of 89 votes. BJP had contested the elections as part of the NDA.

In the 2011 elections, Razak of IUML’s UDF, who received 49,817 votes, defeated Surendran of BJP, who obtained 43,989 votes. In 2006, CH Kunhambu of CPM seized the seat from the IUML. Kunhambu had defeated BJP’s M Narayana Bhat by more than 4,800 votes.

Total voters, electoral participation, population

According to the 2005 delimitation exercise, the Manjeshwaram or Manjeshwar Assembly constituency includes the Enmakaje, Kumbla, Mangalpady, Manjeshwar, Meenja, Paivalike, Puthige and Vorkady panchayats in Kasaragod Taluk.

Voter turnout in the 2016 Manjeshwaram Assembly elections was 76.33 percent. Manjeshwaram has 205 polling stations.

According to him elecotrate data for 2020, Kasaragod district has 1,016,193 voters, of which 4,97,130 are men and 5,19,062 women. There is only one registered transgender voter in the district.

According to the Election Commission of India, Kerala has 2.62,57,121 voters, of which 1,26,16,789 are men, 1.34,95,097 women and 149 third-gender voters. The state also has 89,213 overseas voters, who will be allowed to vote via postal ballots recently approved by the Election Commission.

The 2021 Kerala Assembly election is the first time that overseas state voters will be able to cast their votes from abroad. The majority of voters abroad are men (83,624), followed by women (5,577) and 12 third-gender voters. There are a total of 55,873 service voters, of whom 53,428 are men and 2,445 women.

Population: 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 followers of Islam and 18.38 percent. hundred 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 remainder 132 are male MLAs. The Kerala Niyamasabha holder will expire on June 1, 2021.

Subscribe to Moneycontrol Pro at ₹ 499 for the first year. Use code PRO499. Limited time offer. * Terms and conditions apply