Lone LDF winner in Kerala: ‘Congress is reaping benefits of Left’s campaign against BJP’

The Kerala Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, Devaswoms, and Parliamentary Affairs, Radhakrishan also claimed that the Congress’s upper hand over the Left parties in the state in Lok Sabha elections was “due to the political scenario in the country”.

“The Congress is the leading party in the INDIA bloc, which also includes the Left. Even those who otherwise vote for the LDF might be voting for the UDF in the Lok Sabha elections. All they want is to oust the BJP and it does not matter for them whether they are voting for the LDF or the UDF,” said Radhakrishnan.

He asserted that though the CPI(M) suffered a setback, its “stand on rooting for secular values was vindicated by the weaker mandate the BJP-led NDA got at the Centre for a possible third term”.

However, he acknowledged, the party could have campaigned better ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

In 2019 too, the LDF had managed to get just one seat. K M Arif, its lone winner then, lost to Congress general secretary K C Venugopal in Alappuzha this time.

The LDF had been hopeful of breaking into the Congress minority votes in the state through its anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests. However, that too did not work.

The CPI(M)’s vote share saw a slight dip in Kerala from 25.97% in 2019 to 25.82% in 2024. Its major ally CPI saw a negligible rise in its vote share from 6.08% in 2019 to 6.14% in 2024.

The Congress and its chief ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) polled 35.06 per cent and 6.07 per cent votes, respectively.

The win of Radhakrishnan, who is a five-time MLA from his native constituency of Chelakkara in the Thrissur district, has necessitated a bypoll.

With talks of anti-incumbency against the Pinarayi Vijayan government gaining momentum after another rout in Lok Sabha elections, the LDF will have its task cut out in the bypoll.