Fishermen seek fair representation in Colachel constituency

Fishermen seek fair representation in Colachel constituency

The Colachel assembly constituency plays a significant role in Kanniyakumari district’s political landscape due to its sizable population of fishermen and other small-scale workers.

Colachel, one of the municipalities predominantly occupied by fishermen population, has a great cultural and historic heritage. It is widely known for the ‘Battle of Colachel,’ fought between the Travancore Kingdom and Dutch East India company. It is to be noted that it is the first victory of Asians over European force.

Despite representing a significant number of fishing population, one of the prolonged demands of the community is inadequate representation in local bodies, attributed to the last local body delimitation exercise held in Tamil Nadu.

Johnson, a resident of Colachel said, “The Colachel municipality has a total of 24 wards, of which 12 were earlier represented by fishermen. However, after the delimitation exercise only seven wards were allocated to fishermen, affecting the community’s representation at the municipal level.”

He added that the voter distribution has become uneven. In the seven, fishermen dominated wards, around 1,200 to 1,600 voters are listed in each ward, whereas in some wards, the number ranges between 400 and 500 voters.

Mr. Johnson emphasised that necessary measures must be taken to revise the delimitation, as many fishermen localities in the municipality are struggling to secure development works in their respective wards.