Is it hat-trick for Kodikunnil or change of guard in Mavelikkara?

The Mavelikkara Lok Sabha constituency is reportedly witnessing an engrossing poll battle between the three major political fronts in Kerala.

The constituency takes a different hue and shape with each delimitation process. It was known as Kollam-Mavelikkara in the first general elections of 1951. It is curious to note that the erstwhile constituency and the present one are like chalk and cheese in every respect. The Kollam-Mavelikkara constituency became a thing of the past in the 1957 Lok Sabha polls, and the Mavelikkara constituency first took shape in 1962. The contours of Mavelikkara changed again with the Thiruvananthapuram constituency going into oblivion. Another big shift in the constituency happened with the delimitation process of 2008 in which the Adoor (reserved) constituency was taken off the poll map and portions of that constituency were drafted into the new Mavelikara constituency and the new seat was reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste. In the new avatar, the Assembly segments that had a major sway in the political outcome of Mavelikkara became part of the Pathanamthitta constituency.

Unity in diversity

The Mavelikkara constituency was stitched together with the leftover Assembly segments after the decade-old delimitation of Kollam, Kottayam and Alappuzha constituencies. This resulted in the constituency spreading across pockets of three districts – Kollam, Kottayam and Alappuzha— with different topographies, culture, employment segments and castes and religions. If you want to see unity in diversity, become a parliamentarian from the Mavelikkara constituency. The pertinent question is, who will become the Mavelikara MP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election?

The constituency extends to Munroe Thrurthu in the south and the Western Ghats valley in the east. The agriculture hubs such as Onnattukara, Kuttanad and Upper Kuttanad almost completely come under the Mavelikkara constituency. Rubber, coir, cashew nuts, Kuttanad karimeen (pearl spot), ducks, sesame seeds of Onattukara and turmeric are all part and parcel of the Mavelikkara constituency. The NSS headquarters in Perunna, and Chengannur, the gateway to the hill shrine Sabarimala, are also in Mavelikkara. The Sabarimala tantric family also stays in this constituency.

Rich history

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had an upper hand in five of the seven Assembly segments in the constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, held immediately after delimitation, and UDF candidate Kodikunnil Suresh romped home with a majority of nearly 50,000 votes. Though the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) held sway in four Assembly constituencies in the last general elections, Kodikunnil won again with a majority of close to 30,000 votes. Presently, six of the seven Assembly seats are with the LDF, but this hasn’t dented the confidence of the UDF on the grounds that the Assembly elections results would not influence the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections. But the LDF is facing the elections with greater conviction.

Kodikunnil, Chittayam and Thazhava

As the three major candidates in the fray have in their names different place names – Kodikunnil, Chittayam and Thazhava – and these monikers have become synonymous with the three political fronts – the UDF, LDF and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Kodikunnil was in the fray for the UDF for six times from the erstwhile Adoor constituency and tasted success four times. When Adoor became part of the new Mavelikkara constituency, the UDF didn’t had to think twice about its nominee from Mavelikara. Kodikunnil is eyeing a hat-trick from Mavelikkara as he entered Parliament twice representing this constituency.

Chittayam Gopakumar was CPI’s dummy candidate for long and had been a dummy nominee in seven Lok Sabha elections, including the last one. But in 2011 Assembly elections Gopakumar proved that he was no longer a dummy candidate with a win over Congress' Pandalam Sudhakaran by less than 1,000 votes from Adoor in the 2011 Assembly elections. The last Assembly polls saw Gopakumar’s victory margin swell by more than 25,000 votes and this support prompted the CPI to make Gopakumar its nominee from Mavelikkara.

NDA's Thazhava Sahadevan was a long-time employee of the KSRTC and was also active in theatre, films and serials. Sahadevan jumped into the election fray in the last Assembly polls in which he garnered nearly 20,000 votes, the highest by a Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) candidate in Kollam district, from Kunnathur. The BDJS, an ally of the BJP in the NDA alliance, didn’t had to look beyond Sahadevan when the NDA decided to allot the Mavelikkara seat to the party.