Kerala politics gets momentum as bye-elections have been declared for two Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha constituency. Palakkad constituency fell vacant as Congress’s Shafi Parambil, elected to the Kerala Assembly in 2021, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024. In 2021, BJP candidate Metro Man E Sreedharan came second, pushing CPM to a humiliating 3rd position. Metro Man lost by a mere narrow margin of 3,879 votes. This time, the BJP candidate is C Krishnakumar, a Palakkad native and state general secretary of the state BJP. He showed his exemplary workmanship and efficiency as the Palakkad Municipality Vice Chairman.
Moreover, Krishnakumar is a young leader compared to Metro Man. Last time, Metro Man was absolutely hopeful and even opened an office to coordinate activities after winning the election. He had prepared a master plan for the development of Palakkad. Now, he has handed over the same to Krishnakumar when the latter visited him to seek his (Sreedharan’s) blessings before plunging into the electoral race. Metro Man told the media that the candidate is his younger brother and he would work for him as a lieutenant. Therefore, political observers believe that Krishnakumar is the sure bet for the Palakkad constituency.
Dr P Sarin, a native of Palakkad, former Civil Service man and former IT chief of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, resigned from the party last week. It is alleged by Congress men that he resigned as he was not given the party ticket and it was given to Youth Congress president Rahul Mankoottathil, a native of Southern Kerala. Immediately, LDF made Sarin their candidate. The entry of Rahul Makootathil has created a serious divide in Congress in Palakkad. A lot of senior leaders keep away from Rahul’s election campaign. Moreover, Sarin told the media that last time, a lot of LDF votes were shifted in favour of Congress candidate Shafi Parambil. This statement speaks out the reason for the Metro Man’s defeat. These developments are in favour of C Krishnakumar. He is definitely all set to defeat the secret understanding between the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
Results of Election 2021
Palakkad
54,079 : Shafi Parambil, Congress (UDF)
50,220 : E Sreedharan, BJP (NDA)
36,433 : C P Pramod, CPM (LDF)
CPM’s K Radhakrishnan has represented the Chelakkara Assembly constituency for three turns – 1996 to 2016 and 2021 to 2024. He served as Speaker (2016 to 2011) of the state Assembly and also as a Minister (2021 to 2024) until he was elected to Lok Sabha in 2014. He had invited the wrath of the Hindus in general and Ayyappa devotees in particular when he ‘disrespected’ the holy water the priest of the Sabarimala shrine poured on his palm when he visited there in his capacity as the Dewaswom Minister. People consume a bit of the holy water when it is poured on their palms and smear the rest of it over their heads in reverence; it is the faith and customs followed by the temple goers.
When Radhakrishnan visited the temple, photographers were around, and a dozen TV channel cameras were waiting to capture the moments. He was caught by the cameras when the priest poured the holy water on his palm. He used holy water like sanitiser. But, the CPM leader Anathagopan did what God-fearing and faithful Hindus do. The same was done by Narayanan, a Kerala Congress (M) leader who was with the Minister at that time. Kerala Congress (M) is a constituent of the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). The act went viral on social media. The people accused the Minister of “disrespect” to holy water.
Radhakrishnan was elected to Lok Sabha from the Alathur constituency; hence, Chelakkara falls vacant. This time, K Balakrishnan is batting for BJP. Even though he belonged to a Congress family, he joined RSS during his younger days and now is the most popular BJP face in Chelakkara. He is a member of Panchayat and was a vice president. He has proved his mettle in all areas he entered. People are disgruntled with K Radhakrishnan’s undesirable behaviour in Sabarimala. Therefore, even CPM votes are likely to be cast in favour of Balakrishnan. Therefore, the BJP believes that he will be the winner. Congress’s Remya Haridas, former Lok Sabha MP, is trying her luck too.
Results of Election 2021
Chelakkara
83,415 : K. Radhakrishnan, CPM (LDF)
44,015 : C.C. Sreekumar, Congress (UDF)
24,045 : Shajumon Vattekkad, BJP (NDA)
Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as the MP from Wayanad, in view of his simultaneous win from Rae Bareili, paved the way for the Lok Sabha by-election in Wayanad. Now, Priyanka Gandhi has been fielded to protect the Congress “first family’s” constituency. Wayanad consists of 7 assembly constituencies out of which 3 belong to Muslim majority district of Malappuram. One of them is represented by the Indian Union Muslim League, another one by Congress and the third one by P V Anwar, who was elected as a CPM-sponsored Independent candidate. Last month, he abandoned the CPM umbrella and is now the strongest critic of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. And all three constituencies are represented by UDF and are powerful Muslim vote banks. That is why Rahul Gandhi opted for Wayanad. And, that is why he was returned to Lok Sabha for two consecutive terms. And he used the Nehru family’s legacy cleverly to win, But he did not bother to look after his constituency, which he was supposed to nurture during the last five years. People called him ‘visiting MP’. The people in Wayanad face a lot of fatal issues like wild animal attacks, crop failure and killing natural calamities. But, he always turned a blind eye to them. He repeated the same when Wayanad suffered killer landslides, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and the devastation of several villages. Therefore, voters of Wayanad are not in the mood to vote for Priyanka Gandhi and have one more ‘visiting MP’. LDF has fielded CPI’s Satyan Mokeri. Last, it was their national leader, Annie Raja, the wife of Party General Secretary D Raja. Now, people do not see any difference between both Congress and CPI candidates as both belong to a single coalition called I.N.D.I Alliance.
Therefore, BJP’s Navya Haridas has every chance to defeat the ‘daughter of the first family’. Navya, unlike Priyanka, is a seasoned politician and an orator. Now, she is the state general secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha. She is a software engineer-turned-politician. She had contested the last Assembly election from Kozhikode South Assembly Constituency. Kozhikode is the neighbouring district of Wayanad. Therefore, unlike Priyanka, Navya can easily get along with Wayanad. She visited Wayanad during the recent landslides, but Priyanka will find it difficult to study Wayanad and the issues the district faces.
Results of Lok Sabha election 2024
Wayanad
647,445 (59.6 per cent): Rahul Gandhi, Congress (UDF)
283,023 (26.009 per cent): Annie Raja, CPI (LDF)
141,045 (13 per cent): K Surendran, BJP (NDA)
