Rahul Mamkootathil led a victory rally in Palakkad on Saturday after winning the Palakkad Assembly constituency seat.
| Photo Credit: K K Mustafah

The byelections to the Palakkad and Chelakkara Assembly constituencies in Kerala saw the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) retain Palakkad by a record margin of 18,840 votes and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) defend Chelakkara, its stronghold for 28 years, by a margin of 12,201 votes.

While Congress’s Rahul Mamkootathil polled 58,389 votes, which was 42.27% of the 1.38 lakh votes polled in Palakkad, C. Krishnakumar of the BJP finished runner-up with 39,549 votes (28.63%). The Left Front’s Dr. P. Sarin came third with 37,293 (27%) votes.

The constituency held by Congress’s Shafi Parambil since 2011 saw the BJP close the gap with him between 2016 and 2021. BJP’s E. Sreedharan gave Mr. Parambil a scare in 2021 when he polled 50,220 votes, reducing Mr. Parambil’s majority from 17,483 in 2016 to just 3,859 votes. The BJP had finished runner-up in those two elections, which gave it hope this time, but its vote share in the byelection declined sharply by 10,671 votes compared to 2021.

While it came third, the Left, which fielded the State social media in-charge of the Congress who switched sides ahead of the byelection, was able to gather more votes than it did in 2021.

The byelection to Palakkad was mired in controversies, mudslinging, and high-level defections. The Congress and the CPI(M) traded charges of having a truck with extremist religious groups and carrying out a communal campaign.

The Left Front retained the Chelakkara Assembly constituency in Kerala, considered a red fort, for the seventh consecutive time. U.R. Pradeep of the CPI(M) won by a clear majority of 12,201 votes. While Ramya Haridas of the UDF managed to receive 52,626 votes and came second, the BJP candidate K. Balakrishnan came third with 33,609 votes. 

In 2021, when a Left wave swept the State, K. Radhakrishnan of the CPI(M) had posted a majority of 39,400 votes in the constituency. His election to the Lok Sabha from Alathur early this year necessitated the byelection.