The summer heat has made little impact on the high-pitched poll campaign in the Adoor Assembly segment.
Campaign vehicles of various candidates frequent the rural reaches as well as the major towns of Pandalam and Adoor. The constituency has a sizable number of plantation workers, especially those in the cashew and rubber sectors.
Local campaign squads of political parties and the candidates are busy on house visits. The constituency has been represented by Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan for the past 20 years.
The former Minister Pandalam Sudhakaran of the Congress, Chittayam Gopakumar of the Communist Party of India and K.K.Sasi of the Bharatiya Janata Party are the key contestants in the Adoor Assembly constituency that has been reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
Of the eight grama panchayats in the constituency, the grama panchayats of Pandalam-Thekkekkara, Ezhamkulam, Aerath and Pallickal are controlled by the LDF while the Pandalam, Thumpamon, Kodumon and Kadambanad grama panchayats and the Adoor municipality are controlled by the UDF.
Though the LDF has got a clear majority in the Aerath panchayat, a UDF member was elected president as the former did not have a woman member to propose for the post reserved for Scheduled Caste woman.
Though the Kodumon grama panchayat is known as a traditional CPI(M) stronghold, the party suffered a setback in the local body elections owing to certain internal squabbles.
The case of the Pandalam panchayat too is not much different. However, A.Girijakumari of the CPI won the district panchayat division of Pandalam by a good margin in 2010.
Despite the Left leaning of the constituency, the electorate of Adoor has been giving overwhelming majority to Mr. Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan in the successive elections since 1991.
Mr. Sudhakaran has been banking on the achievements of Mr. Radhakrishnan to retain the constituency for the UDF. Mr Sudhakaran is a known political figure who needs no introduction in the constituency. The UDF is making every effort to exploit the goodwill of the sitting MLA.
Chittayam Gopakumar is a former panchayat president of the neighbouring Kottarakkara and he had served as the chairman of the Farm Workers' Welfare Board.
The CPI has deployed a strong band of party cadres in an all out effort to recapture the Assembly segment. Senior party leader M.Sukumara Pillai is camping in Adoor to monitor the campaign work.
The BJP too has stepped up the campaign of its candidate K.K. Sasi. The BJP had secured 9,884 votes from the Assembly segment in the local body polls and 8,774 votes in the Lok Sabha elections.
