Kozhikode: UDF candidate M.K Raghavan has once again cemented his position as the representative of Kozhikode at the parliament, his fourth win from the constituency. Raghavan secured a majority of 120795 votes over his closest contender, LDF’s Elamaram Kareem who got 293292 votes. On the other hand, NDA failed to sway voters in the Malabar region in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections this time too with M.T Ramesh securing 145963 votes. 

In the 2019 Lok sabha elections, Raghavan managed to secure a good majority of 45.85 percent votes while CPM’s A Pradeep Kumar came second with 37.93 votes. Raghavan has been representing the constituency since his 2009 Lok sabha election victory where he fought tooth and nail and clinched victory by a mere margin of about 800 votes. This was a time when Kozhikode was a CPM-dominated constituency and though the margin was small, Raghavan’s win was significant nonetheless. With his performance as the MP, Raghavan won the people’s favour and in 2014, won the seat with a 16,883 vote majority.

Elamaram Kareem, a seasoned CPM leader, showcased a good performance and carried out an intensive campaign. However, trends as of 3:30 PM on Tuesday indicate that these efforts did not come into fruition. Whether it was Raghavan’s influence or the anti-incumbency mood against CPM that pushed Kareem’s scores down are a matter of debate. 

BJP state General Secretary, M.T Ramesh was the third major contender here whose campaign also failed to bring about positive results.