2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election

The 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held in Kerala on 6 April 2021 to elect 140 members to the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly. The results were declared on 2 May.

The election saw the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF) retaining power with 99 seats, 8 more than in the previous election, marking the first time that an alliance won consecutive terms in the state since its 1977 election. The United Democratic Front (UDF) won the remaining 41 seats, 6 less than in the previous election. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was unable to win any seats after losing their lone seat the election. Pinarayi Vijayan became the first Chief Minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full, five-year term in office.

Background

Kerala has a unicameral house of legislation, Niyamasabha, consisting of 140 members elected for a period of five years, unless dissolved earlier, and one nominated member for the Anglo-Indian community. The tenure of the members of the 14th Legislative Assembly in the state ended on 1 June 2021.

In the previous election in 2016, the LDF bagged around two-thirds of the total seats in the assembly, defeating the incumbent UDF, led by the Indian National Congress (INC), which could only win 47 seats in the election. The BJP won one seat, and the remaining seat was won by an independent, P. C. George, who later formed the party Kerala Janapaksham (Secular).

The Jose faction which had developed within Kerala Congress (M) was suspended from UDF for internal groupism in 2020, and later joined LDF. This move gave inroads to LDF in the traditional UDF strongholds of Kottayam district and nearby areas with large number of Syrian Christian voters. In the 2020 Kerala local elections held in December 2020, LDF overtook UDF in the Christian belts of the state, which were traditional strongholds of the UDF, and hence possessed lead in 11 out of 14 districts in the state. After the local elections, A. Vijayaraghavan, the new state secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), repeatedly alleged that UDF had secret alliance with the fundamentalist organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami. Another major change that occurred after 2016 was the entry of Loktantrik Janata Dal and Indian National League into LDF.

In February 2021, Mani C. Kappan, the sitting MLA of Pala constituency, switched to the UDF after the LDF denied his request to contest in Pala constituency in the election. This resulted in NCP expelling him from the party, following which he formed a new political party named Nationalist Congress Kerala (NCK). In March 2021, R. Balasankar, a senior ideologue and leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from Alappuzha, claimed that the Kerala leadership of BJP had struck a secret deal with CPI(M), to weaken and ensure the defeat of Congress-led UDF. However BJP rejected Balasankar's claim. On 17 March 2021, P. C. Thomas announced that his party Kerala Congress has merged with the Joseph faction of Kerala Congress to form a new party, with him being its Deputy Chairman. P. C. Thomas party currently haven't any bracket on its name, so new party will called ''Kerala Congress''.

Schedule

Parties and alliances

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is a coalition of centre-left to left-wing political parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM). The United Democratic Front (UDF) is an alliance of centrist to centre-left political parties led by the Indian National Congress (INC). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is a coalition of centrist to right-wing parties.

An alliance of centre-left to left-wing political parties, the LDF is currently in power. The coalition consists of CPI(M), CPI and several smaller parties.

On 28 February 2021, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) released its campaign slogan for the Assembly election, "Urappanu LDF" (Malayalam: ഉറപ്പാണ് LDF) which translates to "LDF for sure". The alliance released its manifesto on 19 March.

It is an alliance of centrist to centre-left political parties in the state, founded by the prominent Congress party leader K. Karunakaran in 1978.

The United Democratic Front (UDF) released their campaign slogan "Naadu Nannakan UDF" (നാട് നന്നാകാൻ UDF) which roughly translates to ‘UDF for Kerala’s Advancement'. The UDF released their election manifesto on 20 March 2020.

The two candidates of NCK contest as Independent candidates, as their party has not completed the registration process for recognition by the Election Commission of India.

It is an alliance of right-wing parties. NDA Kerala unit was constituted in 2016. The coalition consists of Bharatiya Janata Party, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena and a variety of other smaller parties.

The BJP- led National Democratic Alliance released their campaign slogan "Puthiya Keralam Modikkoppam" (Malayalam: പുതിയ കേരളം മോദിക്കൊപ്പം) which roughly translates to 'New Kerala with Modi.' The BJP pledged if they win the elections they will bring in a Law that they will ban Love Jihad.

Nominations of NDA candidates in three constituencies (Thalassery, Guruvayur and Devikulam) were rejected by the Election Commission. They support Democratic Social Justice Party candidate in Guruvayur and AIADMK candidate in Devikulam. NDA offered support for an independent candidate in Thalassery, who however denied the support.

Candidates

Many parties, including the CPI-M, the INC and the CPI, did not give seats to most sitting candidates who had already served two terms. A third of selected candidates had prior experience in local bodies. The Indian Union Muslim League fielded a female candidate - Noorbeena Rasheed ( Kozhikode South) - for the first time in 25 years. Anannyah Kumari Alex ( Vengara) became the first transgender candidate to run for the Kerala Legislative Assembly, but later suspended her campaign after alleged harassment from her party members. The Election Commission turned down the nomination papers of BJP candidates in Thalassery, Guruvayur, and the AIADMK candidate in Devikulam as their nominations were incomplete.

Opinion polls

Asianet News–C fore Survey (July 2020)

Exit polls

Exit polls were published after 7:30pm IST on 29 April, as per orders from Election Commission of India.

Election

Voting

Result

Summary

The incumbent LDF retained power with 99 seats, 8 more than in the previous election. This marks the first time an alliance has won consecutive terms in the state since 1977. The UDF won 41 seats; 6 less than before. However, the total vote-share of the UDF increased compared to the previous election. The NDA lost their lone seat in Nemom, and suffered a significant loss in vote-share. P. C. George, the Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) candidate in Poonjar, lost his sitting seat to the LDF, coming second. Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam came third in both Kunnathunad and Kochi seats.

Besides Poonjar, Kunnathunad, and Kochi, the NDA dropped to fourth position in Vengara, where an Independent candidate overtook the BJP to become third. The Revolutionary Marxist Party of India opened its account in the State Legislative assembly, winning from Vadakara, a left-socialist stronghold, having the outside support of UDF. In Pala, Mani C. Kappen won as a UDF Independent candidate.

K. K. Shailaja, who as Health Minister had won plaudits for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, was re-elected in Mattanur with a record majority of 67,013 votes. K. A. Shaji of ''Down to Earth'' pointed to the LDF government's success in minimising covid deaths, and reducing economic hardship for people affected by the lockdown as the primary cause for its re-election.

Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that BJP supporters voted for the UDF in close seats, to ensure the defeat of LDF. UDF leader Ramesh Chennithala replied that the secret deal was between the BJP and the LDF to ensure the defeat of the UDF and thus create ''Congress-Muktha Bharat'' (Congress-free India). He further said that the account of the BJP was closed by the decisions taken by the UDF in the constituencies of Nemom, Palakkad and Manjeshwar.

By alliance

By region

By district

By constituency

By-elections

Aftermath

Government formation

The incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in on 20 May along with 20 other cabinet members, 18 of whom were fresh faces. The exclusion of incumbent Health Minister K. K. Shailaja from the cabinet drew criticism from the public and from some CPI(M) members. The swearing-in ceremony, which was restricted to 500 participants due to a state-wide lockdown, was not attended by opposition MLAs and representatives from Central government, citing COVID protocol concerns.

V. D. Satheesan replaced Ramesh Chennithala as the Leader of the Opposition in the Niyamasabha, after the decision was made by the Congress High Command.

Kodakara hawala scandal

A few weeks after election result day, allegations came against the BJP leadership of Kerala for carrying illegal black money ( hawala), which was related to the 2021 election. The money was seized at Kodakara. The Kerala Police handed over the case to Enforcement Directorate. The money was looted at Kodakara on 3 April 2021, just three days before the election. The police revealed that the actual amount was Rs 3.5 crore and it was brought for the BJP's election campaign. BJP state president K. Surendran was the chief accused in the case. The UDF alleged that it was due to the mutual understanding between LDF and BJP that the Kerala Police did not investigate it first.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerala Legislative Assembly election - 2021
2021 State Assembly elections in India
State Assembly elections in Kerala
2020s in Kerala