THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There are many differences in the constituency of Attingal which went to the Assembly polls in 2006 and the constituency that is going to polls this time.
For one the boundary of the constituency has been changed dramatically.
Most of the areas that were included in the Attingal constituency have changed over to the new constituency of Chirayankeezhu after delimitation.
Some of the areas of the old Attingal constituency have even come under Varkala constituency after delimitation.
Most of the areas that are included in the present constituency was part of the erstwhile Kilimanoor constituency which has become part of the Attingal constituency now.
However, one of the major areas that has remained with Attingal constituency even after delimitation is the Attingal municipality area.
The political mind of the Attingal constituency had always favoured the party that came to power.
In the previous election, when the LDF came to power, Anathalavattom Anandan of the CPM was elected from here.
In 2001, it had returned Vakkom Purushothaman of the Congress who became the Finance Minister.
In 1996, Kadakkampally Surendran of the CPM was elected MLA as LDF was voted to power.
It was the turn of Saratchandra Prasad of the Congress in 1991 when the UDF was voted to power.
However, the history of the Kilimanoor constituency was different. From 1964, when the constituency came to existence it had only elected members of the left parties. In 2006 elections, Kilimanoor was the constituency that saw the highest victory margin in the district. N Rajan of the CPI had won with a lead of 21,497 votes. He received 57.57 percent of the total votes polled in the election.
The results to the recent local body elections had favoured the LDF. It was elected to power in seven panchayats and the Attingal municipality. The only panchayat that the UDF could win was the Pulimath panchayat.
However, the UDF candidate Thankamony Divakaran of the Congress is not worried about such statistics.
Thankamony, who is an AICC member and also the State general secretary of the Mahila Congress, feels that the voters are craving for a change.
Thankamony told Express that she could understand during her interaction with voters that they were indeed hoping for a change.
This feeling was evident during her interaction with voters whether be it in the markets or during house visits, she said.
She said that the constituency was facing drinking water shortage and power crisis.
“In some places, there is a lack of burials space. One of my priorities would be to construct crematoriums in such places,” she said.
However, this confidence alone is not enough to upset former SFI leader B Sathyan, the LDF candidate.
He has a long history of winning elections. He had won elections to the posts of Kerala University Union Chairman, State ITI Union General Secretary during his student days.
He has also been the district president, secretary, State executive member and Central Committee member of the SFI.
Sathyan was elected to the CPM district committee even while he was a SFI leader. He is the member of the district committee of the party even now.
After his student days, Sathyan was elected president of the Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat and councillor of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
He was also elected member of the syndicate and senate of the Kerala University.
Sathyan, who has completed two rounds of campaign, is confident.
He said that the reaction of the voters towards his campaign was very enthusiastic.
Dr V V Vava, former director of Animal Husbandary Department, is the BJP candidate for the constituency. He is also the president of the SC/ST Morcha.
