The 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held in Kerala on 6 April 2021 to elect 140 members to the 15th Kerala Assembly. The results were declared on 2 May.
The election saw the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF) in a historic win retaining power with 99 seats, 8 more than in the previous election, marking the first time that an alliance won consecutive terms in the state since 1977. The United Democratic Front (UDF) won the remaining 41 seats, 6 less than in the previous election. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) received a dip in vote share and lost their lone seat. Pinarayi Vijayan became the first Chief Minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full, five-year term in office.
Background Kerala has a unicameral house of legislation, Niyamasabha, consisting of 140 members elected from individual constituencies and one nominated member from the Anglo-Indian community. Members are elected for a period of five years, unless the assembly is dissolved earlier. Fourteen and two constituencies respectively are reserved for members belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). The tenure of the members of the 14th Legislative Assembly in the state ended on 1 June 2021.
As with all assembly elections in India, Kerala uses first-past-the-post election system. Voters are given a provision to vote NOTA (None Of The Above). State Election Commission, Kerala conducts the assembly election and is overseen by Election Commission of India.
Changes in alliance compositions In the previous election in 2016, the LDF bagged 91 seats in the assembly, defeating the incumbent UDF, led by the Indian National Congress (INC), which could only win 47 seats in the election. The remaining seat was won by an independent, P. C. George, who later formed the party Kerala Janapaksham (Secular).
After being suspended from UDF, Kerala Congress (M), led by Jose K. Mani, joined LDF. However, a faction of the party, led by P. J. Joseph, remained in UDF and formed Kerala Congress.
Another major change that occurred after 2016 was the entry of 4 parties, including Loktantrik Janata Dal and Indian National League, into LDF.
2020 local elections In the 2020 Kerala local elections held in December, LDF performed strong, including a lead in 11 out of 14 district panchayats in the state.
The induction of Kerala Congress (M) gave inroads to LDF in the traditional UDF strongholds of Kottayam district and nearby areas with large number of Syrian Christian voters.
After the local elections, A. Vijayaraghavan, the new state secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), repeatedly alleged that UDF had secret alliance with the fundamentalist organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami.
2021 In February 2021, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Mani C. Kappan, the sitting MLA of Pala constituency, switched to the UDF after the LDF denied his request to contest in Pala constituency in the election. This resulted in his expulsion from NCP, following which he formed a new political party named Nationalist Congress Kerala (NCK).
In March 2021, R. Balasankar, leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from Alappuzha, claimed that the Kerala leadership of BJP had struck a secret deal with CPI(M) to weaken and ensure the defeat of UDF, a claim denied by BJP. On 17 March 2021, P. C. Thomas announced the merger of his party with P. J. Joseph's Kerala Congress, with him being its Deputy Chairman.
Schedule
Election event Date Day Date of issue of gazette notification 12/03/2021 Friday Last date for filing nomination 19/03/2021 Friday Scrutiny of nomination 20/03/2021 Saturday Last date of withdrawal of candidature 22/03/2021 Monday Date of polling 06/04/2021 Tuesday Date of counting 02/05/2021 Sunday +Final voters list for 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly electionGroup of votersVoters populationMale13,283,724Female14,162,025Transgender290Total voters27,446,039
Parties and alliances The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is a coalition of centre-left to left-wing political parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM). The United Democratic Front (UDF) is an alliance of centrist to centre-left political parties led by the Indian National Congress (INC). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a coalition of centrist to right-wing parties.
Left Democratic Front
An alliance of centre-left to left-wing political parties, the LDF is currently in power. The coalition consists of CPI(M), CPI, and several smaller parties.
Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male Female CPI(M) A. Vijayaraghavan 77 65 12 CPI Kanam Rajendran 23 21 2 KEC(M) Jose K. Mani 12 11 1 JD(S) Mathew T. Thomas 4 4 0 NCP T. P. Peethambaran 3 3 0 LJD M. V. Shreyams Kumar 3 3 0 INL A. P. Abdul Wahab 3 3 0 CON(S) Kadannappalli Ramachandran 1 1 0 KEC(B) R. Balakrishna Pillai 1 1 0 JKC K. C. Joseph 1 1 0 Independents 12 12 0 Total 140 125 15
United Democratic Front (Kerala)
It is an alliance of centrist to centre-left political parties in the state, founded by the prominent Congress party leader K. Karunakaran in 1978.
Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male Female INC Mullappally Ramachandran 93 83 10 IUML Sayed Hyderali Shihab Thangal 25 24 1 KEC P. J. Joseph 10 10 0 RSP A. A. Aziz 5 5 0 NCK Mani C. Kappan 2 2 0 KEC(J) Anoop Jacob 1 1 0 CMP C. P. John 1 1 0 RMPI N. Venu 1 0 1 Independents 2 2 0 Total 140 128 12
National Democratic Alliance
It is an alliance of right-wing parties. NDA Kerala unit was constituted in 2016. The coalition consists of Bharatiya Janata Party, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a variety of other smaller parties.
Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male Female BJP K. Surendran 113 98 15 BDJS Thushar Vellapally 21 17 4 AIADMK G. Shobakumar"AIADMK plans T.N. model alliance in State" . The Hindu. 28 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021. 2 1 1 KKC Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan 1 1 0 JRP C. K. Janu 1 0 1 Total 138 117 21
Campaign On 28 February 2021, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) released its campaign slogan for the Assembly election, "Urappanu LDF" (Malayalam: ഉറപ്പാണ് LDF) which translates to "LDF for sure". The alliance released its manifesto on 19 March.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) released their campaign slogan "Naadu Nannakan UDF" (നാട് നന്നാകാൻ UDF) which roughly translates to 'UDF for Kerala's Advancement'. The UDF released their election manifesto on 20 March 2020.
The BJP- led National Democratic Alliance released their campaign slogan "Puthiya Keralam Modikkoppam" (Malayalam: പുതിയ കേരളം മോദിക്കൊപ്പം) which roughly translates to 'New Kerala with Modi.' BJP pledged to ban Love Jihad if elected to power.
Candidates
Many parties, including the CPI(M), the INC and the CPI, did not give tickets to most sitting MLAs who had already served two terms. A third of selected candidates had prior experience in local bodies. The Indian Union Muslim League fielded a female candidate - Noorbeena Rasheed in Kozhikode South - for the first time in 25 years. Anannyah Kumari Alex, contesting from Vengara, became the first ever transgender candidate to be nominated for Kerala assembly election, However, she suspended her campaign after alleged harassment from her party members.
Nominations of NDA candidates in Thalassery, Guruvayur and Devikulam were rejected by the Election Commission, citing incomplete nomination papers. Hence, the alliance offered support Democratic Social Justice Party (DSJP) candidate in Guruvayur, AIADMK candidate in Devikulam and for an independent candidate in Thalassery, however the latter rejected the support.
Opinion polls
Date publishedPolling agencyLeadRef.LDFUDFNDA29 March 2021Asianet News–C fore82–9146–543–712–2124 March 2021Mathrubhumi–CVoter73–8356–660–13–13Manorama News–VMR77–8254–590–37–12Times Now–CVoter77621719 March 2021Mathrubhumi News–CVoter75-83 (79)55–60 (57)0–2 (1)5–13 (8)15 March 2021ABP News–CVoter77–8554–620–27–15MediaOne–P-Marq (Politique Marquer)74–8058–640–24–108 March 2021Times Now–CVoter825611128 February 202124 News72–7863–691–22–827 February 2021ABP News–CVoter83–9147–550–213–2125 February 2021Lok Poll75–8060–650–15–1021 February 2021Spick Media - MCV Network Survey855321424 News68–7862–721–2HungAsianet News–C fore72–7859–653–72–818 January 2021ABP News–CVoter81–8941–470–211–196 January 2021Lok Poll73–7862–670–13–84 July 2020Asianet News–C fore77–8354–603–77–13
Asianet News–C fore Survey (July 2020) Vote share predicted by Asianet C-Fore Survey [04/07/2020]Social groupLDFUDFNDAOthersLeadTotal vote42391813Seats79565023RegionNorthVote Share43391814Central39421813South41382013NorthSeats41172024Central1823105South2016204GenderMen41341697Women343513181Caste and ReligionMuslims49312018Ezhava472324623Jacobite/Orthodox/Marthoma/Latin29584919Syro-Malabar Catholic Christians246131237Dalits3725221612Nairs244227715Other castes174033107EmploymentStudents4429151215Government employees512172130Farmers582515233Homemakers363811152Unemployed275116624Private employees2542181517Entrepreneurs454321022Age18-25433015121326-3531381714736-5040311613950+36445158
Exit polls Exit polls were published after 7:30pm IST on 29 April, as per orders from Election Commission of India. Date publishedPolling agencyLeadRef.LDFUDFNDAOthers 29 April 2021 India News iTV - Jan Ki Baat 64– 76 61–71 2–4 –Hung Patriotic Voter84–92 45–51 2–4 0–114–22 India Today - Axis My India104–120 20–36 0–2 0–234–50 Manorama News - VMR68–78 59–70 0–2 0–1Hung News24 - Today's Chanakya93 - 111 26–44 0–6 0–223–41 DB Live 54–61 74–802–7 –4–10 Reporter TV - P-MARQ72–79 60–66 0–3 0–12–8 Republic - CNX72– 80 58–64 1–5 –2–9 Sudarshan News 70– 80 59–65 2–6 1–3Hung Times Now / ABP - C-Voter71–77 62–68 0–2 –1–7 TV9 Bharatvarsh - POLSTRAT 70– 80 59–69 0–2 –Hung
Election Voting + DistrictsVoter turnout District% Kasargod76.64Kannur80.17Wayanad76.72Kozhikode80.50Malappuram75.80Palakkad77.85Thrissur75.71Ernakulam75.85Idukki71.97Kottayam74.32Alappuzha76.94Pathanamthitta69.64Kollam75.16Thiruvananthapuram72.06Kerala75.60
Result
Summary
99 41
The incumbent LDF retained power with 99 seats, 8 more than in the previous election. This marks the first time an alliance has won consecutive terms in the state since 1977. The UDF won 41 seats, 6 less than before, although their vote share increased. The NDA lost their lone seat in Nemom and suffered a significant loss in vote-share. P. C. George, Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) candidate in Poonjar and the only MLA not part of any alliance, lost his sitting seat to the LDF, coming second.
Besides Poonjar, Kunnathunad, Perumbavoor, Kochi, Vypin, Kothamangalam and Muvattupuzha the NDA dropped to fourth position in Vengara, where an independent candidate overtook the BJP to become third. The Revolutionary Marxist Party of India opened its account in the State Legislative assembly, winning from Vadakara, a left-socialist stronghold, with outside support of UDF. In Pala, Mani C. Kappen won as a UDF Independent candidate.
K. K. Shailaja, who as Health Minister had won plaudits for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, was re-elected in Mattanur with a record majority of 67,013 votes. K. A. Shaji of Down to Earth pointed to the LDF government's success in minimising covid deaths and reducing economic hardship of people affected by the lockdown as the primary cause for its re-election.
In the aftermath of the election, leaders of LDF and UDF have alleged collusion of one another with BJP in an effort to undermine theirs.