Attingal is often known as a Left citadel owing much to its almost complete dominance of the local bodies here and its repeated wins in the Lok Sabha polls. However, when it comes to assembly elections, the laurels have been shared almost equally by the Left as well as the Congress.
Since 1957, the Left has won seven times in this constituency while the Congress has won six times, with the Congress's breakaway factions of INC(U) and IC(S) winning twice.
But the biggest blow to the Left’s dominance here came in the Lok Sabha election of 2019 with Adoor Prakash’s win over three-time LDF MP, A.Sampath by a margin of more than 40,000 votes. In the Attingal assembly segment too, Mr.Prakash led with 50,045 votes, while Mr.Sampath was a close second with 48,492 votes.
An aberration
The LDF mostly sees this result as an aberration, as part of a UDF wave which was visible across most constituencies in the 2019 elections, when the voters had national-level concerns in mind.
In the local body elections in December 2020, the LDF managed to retain power in Attingal municipality, the Nagaroor and Pazhayakunnummel panchayats, and managed to wrest the Manamboor and Ottoor panchayats from the UDF.
But, at the same time, it lost the Vakkom, Cherunniyoor, Kilimanoor and Pulimath panchayats to the UDF and the Karavaram panchayats to the BJP. It is also wary of the slow inroads that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making in the urban areas, after securing seven seats in the Attingal municipality.
In the first elections to the Attingal assembly constituency in 1957, R.Prakasam of the CPI had secured a win, but the Congress's N.Kunjuraman wrested the constituency from the Left in the 1960 elections. Congress’s Vakkom Purushothaman started his unbeaten run stretching for four elections, from here in 1970.
He continued his winning streak with the breakaway faction of INC (U) in 1980 and as an Independent in 1982.
He again won in 2001 as a Congress candidate.
CPI (M) leader Anathalavattom Anandan also had three wins from Attingal since 1987, in alternate elections.
The CPI (M) has won the past three assembly elections from the constituency, with B.Satyan winning in 2011 and 2016. Post delimitation, the contours of the Attingal assembly constituency changed drastically for the 2011 elections.
The only common areas in the current Attingal constituency, compared to the old are the Attingal municipality and Vakkom panchayat regions.
Many areas from the former Kilimanoor constituency, which no longer exists, were added to it, making the constituency more favourable to the Left.
Religious and caste equations will come into play in a constituency, where the SNDP yogam and the NSS has a strong presence, and several pockets having considerable population of minorities.
Coir sector
The traditional coir sector has a large presence in some panchayats.
The Attingal assembly seat is now reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.
As per the voters' list published by the Election Commission on January 20, Attingal has a total of 1,99,036 voters, with 1,08,263 female voters and 90,771 male voters.
