Election verdict: Sudhakaran wins in CPM stronghold of Kannur
Kannur: The CPM’s fortress collapsed as the results of the 18th Lok Sabha elections were declared in Kerala on Tuesday. The ruling party in Kerala suffered a major defeat in its strongholds of Dharmadam, Mattanur and Taliparamba. These are the strongholds of party stalwarts Pinarayi Vijayan, K K Shailaja and M V Govindan. In the recently concluded elections, K Sudhakaran performed brilliantly in these traditional Left strongholds. The votes received by the Congress veteran in Taliparamba proved to be a game changer for the CPM. Sudhakaran secured a good lead of 8,787 votes in Taliparamba. The CPM’s performance in Mattanur and Dharmadam remained below the 2019 figure. The party could only manage marginal gains in these areas. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the LDF secured leads of 22,698, 50,123 and 60,963 votes in Taliparamba, Dharmadam and Mattanur constituencies respectively. But in contrast, the performance of the front is relatively disappointing compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
K Sudhakaran has been the toughest opponent for the CPM in Kannur for over three decades. It is worth mentioning that the LDF campaigned for over a month in the constituency ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Several programmes were held, including door-to-door campaigning. The UDF, on the other hand, remained sluggish and their campaigns lacked vigour. But it seems nothing could affect their prospects as the opposition front has emerged victorious with a massive majority in the constituency. This time K Sudhakaran overtook his rival M V Jayarajan with a massive lead of 1,08,982 votes, the biggest ever lead by a candidate in the history of Lok Sabha elections in Kannur. The Congress leader won the people’s mandate for the third time from Kannur. Sudhakaran’s vote share stood at 48.74 per cent. M V Jayarajan managed to garner only 38.5 per cent votes. NDA candidate C Raghunath got 11.27 percent votes.
