Kerala Assembly Elections 2026: In Muvattupuzha, Congress keen to buck the trend, saffron maths adds to poll game

Over the years, the Muvattupuzha Assembly constituency has shed its tag as a traditional Kerala Congress bastion and embraced unpredictability as its key character. In the past four elections since 2006, Muvattupuzha has elected its MLA from the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Congress alternatively.

This time, for the Congress’ sitting legislator, Mathew Kuzhalnadan, it is indeed a fight to buck the trend.

Mr. Kuzhalnadan is facing the CPI’s Ernakulam district secretary N. Arun this time. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has assigned the seat to its new ally Twenty20 and fielded entrepreneur Sunny Kadoothazhe.

Mr. Kuzhalnadan won his maiden electoral contest in 2021, defeating the CPI’s sitting MLA Eldho Abraham by 6,161 votes. In 2016, Mr. Abraham defeated the Congress’ sitting legislator Joseph Vazhakkan by 9,375 votes. Mr. Vazhakkan became the Muvattupuzha MLA in 2011, defeating the CPI’s sitting MLA Babu Paul by 5,163 votes. It was Mr. Paul who had ended Johny Nelloor’s hat-trick winning streak in 2006. Mr. Nelloor had won the constituency on a Kerala Congress(M) ticket in 1991, and as the candidate of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) in 1996 and 2001. However, he could not repeat the win when he contested as the candidate of the now-defunct Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran).

The UDF has launched a hoarding war in the constituency in which the front has projected Mr. Kuzhalnadan as the alternative in Muvattupuzha against the Left Democratic Front’s campaign that there is no alternative to the Left front in the State.

The LDF is pinning its hopes on Mr. Arun’s image as an activist and organiser. The Left campaign also revolves around highlighting Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s alleged opposition to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board and the land grab charges against him.

The constituency’s gradual transition from a rural, agrarian economy to an aspiring urban landscape could have been reflected in its previous election results. The electorate’s penchant to seek an alternative every five years reveals that they are keen on performance rather than loyalty.

The NDA this time in Muvattupuzha is testing a mathematical game that the saffron front has chosen to experiment with in several other constituencies. Twenty20’s C.N. Prakash had in 2021 come third in the constituency with 13,535 votes, pushing the BJP’s Jiji Joseph to fourth position with only 7,527 votes. Together, the parties polled 14.6% of the votes. The UDF won with 44.8% of the votes against the LDF’s 40.5%. Twenty20’s vote count in 2021 was considerably higher than the BJP’s all-time high of 9,759 votes in the constituency in 2016.

K.M. George of the Congress represented the constituency in 1957 and 1960. A.T. Pathrose of the Kerala Congress was elected in 1965, and P.V. Abraham of the CPI in 1967. Pennamma Jacob, who won in 1970 as a Left-backed Independent candidate remains the lone woman MLA of Muvattupuzha. The constituency elected P.C. Joseph (Kerala Congress) in 1977 and V.V. Joseph of the Kerala Congress (Joseph) in 1980 and 1982. Left-backed Independent A.V. Isaac was elected in 1987.