Kerala election results: UDF wrests Palakkad from Left

KOCHI: The Left bastion of Palakkad was the lone seat which even the Congress didn’t have any hope of winning but V K Sreekandan has pulled off an upset victory defeating incumbent M B Rajesh by 11,637 votes.


Factors that affected the Palakkad elections include minority consolidation, internal rifts within the Communist Party and the post-Sabarimala anti-LDF sentiment that hit the state.

Even the impeccable track record of Rajesh as an MP couldn’t prevent a Congress victory in the constituency that had elected CPM candidates in the past six elections.

Voters at Mannarkad assembly segment, where there is a higher concentration of voters from minority communities and has an MLA from the Indian Union Muslim League, proved crucial, providing Sreekandan an overwhelming lead of 29,625 votes.

In the 2014 elections which Rajesh won with a majority of over 1 lakh votes, UDF candidate M P Veerendrakumar had only secured a lead of 288 votes in Mannarkad. It seems like more Muslim voters have come out in support of Sreekandan this time with 78,250 votes getting cast in his name as opposed to 54,553 votes that the previous UDF candidate got from Mannarkad. Also, Rajesh received 5,640 fewer votes this term from Mannarkad.

Apart from Mannarkad, only Palakkad (4,339) and Pattambi (17,179) favoured Sreekandan while Rajesh found lead in Shornur (11,092), Ottapalam (6,460), Kongad (356) and Malampuzha (21,294).