A young constituency that came into being in 2011 following delimitation, Chirayinkeezhu’s heart has beaten for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the past decade.
Chirayinkeezhu was carved out by including panchayats from the Attingal, Kazhakuttam, and the erstwhile Kilimanoor constituencies. In the two Assembly elections since then, in 2011 and 2016, there was little doubt about where Chirayinkeezhu’s loyalties lay. Both times, V. Sasi of the Communist Party of India (CPI) secured comfortable wins to represent the constituency in the Assembly.
Local bodies
Chirayinkeezhu today comprises Anchuthengu, Azhoor, Chirayinkeezhu, Kadakkavoor, Kizhuvilam, and Mudakkal panchayats in Chirayinkeezhu taluk and Kadhinamkulam and Mangalapuram panchayats in Thiruvananthapuram taluk.
In the 2011 Assembly elections, Mr. Sasi who was the first to represent the reserved constituency after its birth, defeated Congress candidate K. Vidhyadharan by a margin of 12,225 votes. A former member of the Travancore Devaswom Board and former chairman of the Farm Workers Welfare Fund Board, Mr. Sasi secured 59,601 votes against Mr. Vidyadharan’s 47,376.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supported Aithiyoor Surendran, an Independent, in the polls. Mr. Surendran, however, could manage only 2,078 votes.
In 2016, Mr. Sasi was pitted against K.S. Ajith Kumar of the Congress. This time, Mr. Sasi cemented his position by increasing his victory margin to 14,322; he secured 64,692 votes against Mr. Ajith Kumar’s 50,370 votes. However, Mr. Sasi’s victory percentage reduced from 52.93% in 2011 to 47.12% in 2016.
The BJP fielded the then party State vice-president P.P. Vava, following gains made by it in certain panchayats in the previous local body elections. Mr. Vava secured 19,478 votes, increasing the party’s vote percentage substantially.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Left Democratic Front candidate (LDF) A. Sampath established a majority of 11,482 votes over United Democratic Front candidate Bindu Krishna in Chirayinkeezhu. The party continued the momentum in the local body polls by winning five grama panchayats and one block panchayat. BJP candidate Girijakumari S. polled 8,377 votes from the segment in the Lok Sabha elections.
However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chirayinkeezhu stood with the UDF, giving Adoor Prakash a lead of 8,564 votes against A. Sampath of the LDF.
In the recent local body elections, though, the LDF was back in the lead, winning 79 wards of the total 150. The UDF bagged 37 wards.
Major issues
The coir industry of Chirayinkeezhu has been hit hard in recent times. With a sizeable number of coir workers in the constituency, it will be interesting to see which way their vote goes. The constituency also has coastal panchayats, and the problems of the fishing community too will hold sway here.
There are a total of 1,96,142 voters in the constituency of whom 89,494 are male, 1,06,645 female, and three are from the transgender community.
