All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) national council member K. Mohandas is confronting the Indian Union Muslim League’s sitting MLA M. Ummer in Manjeri. The LDF is hopeful of giving a better fight than last year’s, in which Mr. Ummer had beaten CPI’s P. Gouri by 29,079 votes.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections also, the UDF secured a lead of 26,062 votes in the Manjeri Assembly segment.
Apart from Manjeri municipality, grama panchayats such as Pandikkad and Keezhattur are in the control of the UDF. When the LDF is ruling the Thrikkalangode grama panchayat, a unique combination of CPI(M) and IUML is in power in the Edappatta panchayat. UDF leaders aver that power equations will change in Edappatta after the Assembly election.
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Manjeri has never elected a non-IUML candidate to the Assembly. The biggest margin in Manjeri was recorded in 2001 when M.P.M. Ishaq Kurikkal secured a lead of 34,595 votes.
The BJP has fielded C. Dinesh in Manjeri. It had secured 5.42 per cent votes in the 2011 elections.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP vote share rose to 8.3 per cent.
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Manjeri has 1,88,952 voters, with 92,815 men and 96,137 women. The constituency witnessed an increase of 24,916 voters in the last five years.