Which way will Thiruvananthapuram swing is the hotly debated question as the urban constituency prepares for this year’s Assembly elections. Capital city development, a perennial bone of contention, will be high on the campaign agenda of the three contesting fronts as they gear up for the battle on April 6.
V. S. Sivakumar of the Congress had claimed the Assembly constituency for the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 2011 and 2016. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) this time harbours strong hopes of upsetting the UDF applecart this time. Once again, Mr. Sivakumar will be facing the LDF candidate Antony Raju of the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, whom he had defeated in 2016. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has chosen actor Krishnakumar as the party’s candidate.
The Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency, as we know it today, is relatively young. Thiruvananthapuram and Vattiyurkavu segments were shaped from Thiruvananthapuram North, Thiruvananthapuram West and Thiruvananthapuram East constituencies that ceased to exist following delimitation.
It was from Thiruvananthapuram East that B. Vijayakumar of the Congress won in 1991, 1996 and 2001. Thiruvananthapuram North gifted victories to M. Vijayakumar of the CPI(M) in 1987, 1991, 1996 and 2006. M. M. Hassan of the Congress won from Thiruvananthapuram West in 1987 and 1991 and M. V. Raghavan of the CMP in 2001. The three constituencies saw battle in their old avatars for the last time in 2006. That year, M. Vijayakumar and V. Sivankutty claimed North and East for the CPI(M), while V. Surendran Pillai won in the West.
In the fight for the new Thiruvananthapuram constituency in 2011, UDF's V. S. Sivakumar defeated Mr. Surendran Pillai by 5,352 votes. Mr. Sivakumar repeated the feat in 2016, this time defeating Antony Raju of the LDF by 10,905 votes.
BJP’s presence
In recent years, the BJP also has sought to increase its influence in the region. B. K. Sekhar of the BJP had stood third here in 2011, winning 11,519 votes. In 2016, the party's decision to field cricketer S. Sreesanth had drawn national attention to the battle for Thiruvananthapuram. Sreesanth was pushed to the third spot, but he managed to secure 34,764 votes.
The Assembly segment favoured the UDF in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Shashi Tharoor won 57,077 votes in the constituency, while Kummanam Rajasekharan of the BJP managed 42,877 votes and C. Divakaran of the LDF, 27,530.
Geographically, the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency borders Nemom in the south, Vattiyurkavu and Kazhakuttam in the north and the Arabian Sea in the west. The constituency is made up of 25 of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation wards, which include main city areas as well as a number of coastal wards.
As per the final voters' list published on January 20, the constituency has 2,00,281 electors, including 97,179 men, 1,03,079 women and 23 transgender voters. The numbers are likely to go up once the integrated voters' list, incorporating additions, is published.
