Kannur: On Tuesday, Kerala witnessed CPM fortresses being shattered, with the results of the 18th Lok Sabha elections in the state being declared. The ruling party in Kerala faced major setbacks in its strongholds in Dharmadam, Mattanur and Taliparamba. These are the bastions of party stalwarts Pinarayi Vijayan, K K Shailaja and M V Govindan respectively. K Sudhakaran showcased a splendid performance in these traditional Left bastions in the recently concluded elections.The votes the Congress veteran garnered in Taliparamba proved a game changer turning things topsy-turvy for the CPM.

In Taliparamba, Sudhakaran gained a considerable lead of 8,787 votes. The performances of the CPM in Mattanur and Dharmadam fell below the 2019-mark. The party could only manage slender leads in these regions.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, LDF led by 22,698, 50,123 and 60,963 votes in Taliparamba, Dharmadam and Mattanur constituencies respectively. But in stark contrast, the performance of the front as compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is relatively dismal. 

K Sudhakaran has been the toughest opponent for the CPM in Kannur for over three decades. Notably, LDF campaigned for over a month in the constituency ahead of Lok Sabha polls 2024. There were a slew of programmes including door-to-door canvassing. On the other hand, the UDF were lethargic and their campaigns lacked steam. But nothing seemed to have affected their chances as the Opposition front has emerged victorious with a thumping majority in the constituency.

This time round, K Sudhakaran overshadowed his rival M V Jayarajan with a gigantic lead of 1.08,982 votes, the highest ever lead for a candidate in the history of Lok Sabha elections in Kannur. The Congress leader won the people's mandate for a third time from Kannur. Sudhakaran’s vote share stood at a staggering 48.74 percent. M V Jayarajan could only raise 38.5 percent votes. The NDA candidate C Raghunath accumulated 11.27 percent votes.

K Sudhakaran, the KPCC president who is fondly referred to as ‘K S’ by his party people, is the frontline leader of the Congress in Kerala’s political hotbed of Kerala. And the Kannur squad of Pinarayi’s CPM has suffered yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of their ‘nemesis’ Sudhakaran. 

CPM is known to have used all the weapons in their arsenal to topple Sudhakaran electorally, but as it can be seen now, they failed miserably. The KPCC president even managed to attract scores of neutral votes.