(from left) PIB Additional Director General V. Palanichamy, Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U. Kelkar, and PIB Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Director Athira Thampi with copies of the election booklet ‘Vottarivu’ in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
| Photo Credit: Special association
Ahead of the April 9 Assembly polls in Kerala, some of the defining moments from the State’s wealthy electoral history have been compiled in ‘Vottarivu,’ a compendium on Kerala elections revealed by the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB).
V. Palanichamy, Additional Director General (Region), PIB Thiruvananthapuram, released the quantity by handing over a replica to Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar right here on Monday.
The 201-page election booklet in Malayalam showcases fascinating episodes and nuggets from the earliest legislative our bodies in Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar to Kerala’s first Communist Ministry below E.M.S. Namboothiripad and as much as the 2021 Assembly elections which noticed the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) authorities return for a consecutive second time period.
The position performed by the Travancore Legislative Council as a pioneering establishment of its form is well-known. But how many individuals know that the Council, fashioned in 1888, had its first assembly within the Dewan’s room on the Secretariat? Or the importance of the September 1948 elections in Cochin within the matter of grownup franchise? The guide additionally carries a short however fascinating chapter on the 2 Prime Ministers of Travancore—Pattom Thanu Pillai and Paravoor T.Ok. Narayana Pillai.
Legal battle
Among different issues, ‘Vottarivu’ recollects the authorized battle that adopted the 1991 Assembly polls within the Edakkad constituency. O. Bharathan of the CPI(M) had gained the tightly fought battle by a slim margin of 219 votes over the Congress’s Ok. Sudhakaran. But the outcome was challenged and the High Court ordered a recount, which resulted in Mr. Sudhakaran being declared the winner. Mr. Bharathan was finally reinstated by a Supreme Court verdict, albeit in direction of the tip of that Assembly’s time period.
The 1957 elections after the formation of the State of Kerala had been held to 126 seats (114 constituencies which included 12 two-member ones). Of these, the CPI gained 60. The quantity of voters then stood at 89.13 lakh. The quantity of constituencies first rose to 140—the current quantity—in the course of the 1977 elections to the State Assembly. The 1970 elections had been particular in that three future Chief Ministers of Kerala—A.Ok. Antony, Oommen Chandy, and Pinarayi Vijayan—had been elected to the Assembly for the primary time.
‘Vottarivu’ is a useful compendium in that it presents a big assortment of electoral information which might be invaluable to researchers and journalists overlaying the elections, Mr. Palanichamy and Mr. Kelkar mentioned. PIB Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Director Athira Thampi additionally spoke.
Published – March 23, 2026 06:20 pm IST
