Kerala election 2021 on April 6; counting on May 2: All you need to know

Kerala Election 2021: Kerala legislature has 140 seats. The tenure of the incumbent government will end on June 1 2021

Kerala Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on April 6, 2021. The legislature has 140 seats, of which a party has to get 71 to form a government. Kerala election result will be announced on May 2.
 

Earlier, the election was held on May 16, 2016, where the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by CPI(M) won the election, and on May 25, Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state.

Kerala election 2021: Full schedule

-Date of issue of gazette notification: March 12

-Scrutiny of nomination: March 20

-Last date of withdrawal of candidature: March 22

-Dates of polling: April 6

-Date of counting: May 2

For almost four decades now, Kerala has voted the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) to power alternately. The 2021 assembly election, though, could spring a surprise. The ruling LDF’s performance in the local body election in December suggests a change in the script for the assembly election in May. Since 2016, the BJP-led NDA has gained political momentum in Kerala and improved its vote share. In the 2016 assembly poll, the NDA got a 15 per cent vote share and by the time of the local body polls in 2020 had improved it to 19 per cent.

ABOUT KERALA ASSEMBLY

The Kerala Legislative Assembly consists of 140 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), elected from single-seat constituencies, with five years term, unless dissolved.

The first Kerala Legislative Assembly was formed in 1957. The Assembly had 127 MLAs, including a nominated member. The current delimitation committee of 2010 reaffirmed the total number of seats at 140.

The current Legislative Assembly is the 14th Assembly since it was formed. The Vijayan-led government's term will end on May 31, 2021.

ABOUT THE PREVIOUS ASSEMBLY ELECTION

On May 16, 2016, the elections were held in 21,498 polling stations, set up at 12,038 locations, with 500 model polling stations. In 2016, the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation programme was undertaken by the state to raise voter awareness and also launched mobile apps.

Around 2,065 Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) units were used by the Election Commission in 1,650 polling stations in 12 constituencies.

On May 19, the LDF emerged victorious after the vote count, winning 91 out of 140 seats in the legislature. The incumbent UDF front was defeated and was reduced to 47 seats. The National Democratic Alliance, and independent P C George won one seat each.