Palakkad: Predictions for the Palakkad constituency in the Lok Sabha elections were proven wrong. VK Sreekandan's win marks the largest victory margin yet for a Congress candidate in the constituency. His triumph challenges the notion that his previous win in the LDF stronghold was solely due to a pro-UDF wave. It underscores his dominance in Palakkad, even outshining CPM veteran A. Vijayaraghavan.

Initially, during the postal vote count, the LDF held a lead of 782 votes. However, by 9:34 am, the tide turned, and the UDF surged ahead with a 521-vote lead. From there, the gap widened rapidly. In under 15 minutes, the lead soared to 6,249 votes. Despite the LDF's confidence in their strongholds, by 10:10 am, the UDF's lead extended to 15,269 votes, reaching 34,222 by 11:30 am, By noon, the margin surpassed 50,000 votes.

At one juncture, the lead even surpassed 80,000 votes, though by 3:30 pm, it had narrowed to 75,000. Nonetheless, this victory marks the third-largest in the history of the Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency. In 2014, M.B. Rajesh secured a margin of 1.05 lakh votes, while in 2004, N.N. Krishnadas won by 98,158 votes.