Padmanabhapuram is a DMK stronghold in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, with the party winning the assembly seat four consecutive times since 2006. The current MLA is Mano Thangaraj, a Tamil Nadu minister, who retained the seat in the 2021 polls by nearly 27,000 votes, following a larger victory margin of around 41,000 in 2016. Prior to Thangaraj, the DMK’s T Theodore Reginald won in 2006, and Pushpa Leela Alban in 2011. For the 2021 elections, Padmanabhapuram had 227,967 registered voters, with a turnout of 74per cent, as 169,210 electors cast their votes.