‘Will win with a margin of 25000 votes’: Vattiyoorkavu MLA VK Prasanth speaks to TNM

VK Prasanth, the sitting legislator of Vattiyoorkavu constituency and Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate for 2021 Assembly elections said he will win this time too, with a margin of nearly 25,000 votes. Prasanth, who was earlier the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram city corporation, had won the 2019 bye-elections with a majority of more than 14,000 votes.

Speaking to TNM at Vattiyoorkavu, during the course of campaigning, the MLA said none of the allegations against the government will affect this assembly election.

"Allegations arise, media will discuss them for a while, then they fade off. There is no proof. None of the criticisms against the government were proven, but they keep the government and its leaders at the centre of these allegations,” he said.

He said people are only concerned about their family's welfare and development and not about baseless allegations. He pointed out that there are many plans ahead for development of the constituency.

"It was in the last bye-election that I won the seat here. It has been 17 months. For seven of these months, most of the work had to be put on hold owing to COVID-19. So I got a short time, and during this period, I have tried to finish maximum development work possible. Now, we need to take up long-term projects — increase the width of the roads, expand job opportunities, turn the famous mental health care centre at Oolampara into a research centre for mental health and so on," he added.

Saying that people have rejected allegations against the government, he said that people only consider what their families got. “This government hasn't increased the ration cost, or hiked bus charges. There are no power cuts or load-shedding, pensions are distributed regularly, they get rice and food kits. This is what the common man needs. We were able to ensure that.”

He said that within a short span of time, he was able to bring in an array of development works in the constituency which gives him confidence this time too.

Vattiyoorkavu is a prominent constituency, which has not been the bastion of a particular front.

In 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections, K Muraleedharan of UDF won from Vattiyoorkavu. In 2011, he defeated Cherian Philip, an Independent candidate, by more than 16,000 votes. In 2016, BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan gave a tough fight and came second when Muraleedharan won again.

Later in 2019, Muraleedharan resigned to contest in the Lok Sabha polls. In the bye-polls, CPI(M)'s VK Prasanth won, defeating the UDF candidate. Prasanth won the elections with a majority of more than 14,000 votes.