A three-pronged fight is all set to be staged in the Kattakada Assembly constituency, which has shown a tendency to sway favours between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) in previous elections amid a growing space for the National Democratic Alliance in the recent times.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, I.B. Satheesh of the LDF scored a huge upset when he edged out N. Sakthan of the UDF by a slender margin of 849 votes in the constituency.
Mr. Satheesh, former Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader, was up against Mr. Sakthan, sitting Congress MLA and Assembly Speaker, in the second elections after the constituency came into being post delimitation. Mr. Satheesh polled 51,614 votes against Mr. Sakthan’s 50,765 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had fielded P.K. Krishnadas for the second time, improved its performance from the previous elections. Its vote share went up from 22,550 votes in 2011 to 38,700 in 2016.
Development initiative
Hoping to retain the seat this time, the LDF has again backed Mr. Satheesh, district committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and district executive member of the Kerala Karshaka Sangham. The LDF is hoping that development initiatives with people’s participation such as the Jalasamruddhi project that have brought the constituency much fame will propel it to a comfortable victory.
The UDF has fielded Malayinkeezh Venugopal, who has won seats for the party in the district panchayat and the Nemom block panchayat.
Mr. Krishnadas, BJP national executive member and former party State president, is contesting from the constituency for the third time on the trot. The party hopes to make further inroads into the constituency, which has been mainly carved out of the Nemom and the erstwhile Aryanad constituencies.
Today, the constituency comprises Kattakada, Malayinkeezhu, Maranalloor, Pallichal, Vilappil, and Vilavoorkal grama panchayats in Neyyattinkara taluk.
Having stood once with the UDF and then the LDF, it will be difficult to predict which way the constituency will sway this time.
Trend changes
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Adoor Prakash of the UDF secured 51,962 votes against 45,822 votes garnered by A. Sampath of the LDF in the constituency.
In the 2020 local body elections, LDF had the upper hand in four of the six panchayats.
The constituency has 1,91,499 voters – 91,740 male, 99,755 female, and four from the transgender community. Nair and Nadar votes will be key to determining victory in the segment, where agriculture is an important economic activity.
