graffiti mural created by students of Atoms College of Fine Arts was seen on a wall at the Civil Station in Palakkad on Monday as part of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.
| Photo Credit: K K Mustafah
Palakkad is set to feel the heat twice over—from the blazing summer and an intensifying Assembly election battle. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) marshalling its resources in a determined push to capture Palakkad, the constituency is likely to be in sharp focus as Kerala goes to the polls on April 9, 2026.
Sobha Surendran, who has been named the BJP candidate, has kicked off her campaign in Palakkad. The party sees Ms. Surendran as one of its strongest contenders in the constituency, where it has finished second to the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the three Assembly elections held since 2016, including the 2024 byelection.
It was Ms. Surendran who helped the BJP leap to the second position in 2016 by securing 29.08% of the votes and pushing the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to the third place for the first time in the constituency. Since then, the BJP has maintained a strong presence in Palakkad.
When veteran technocrat E. Sreedharan contested on the BJP ticket in 2021, he lost to the UDF’s Shafi Parambil by a narrow margin of 3,859 votes, a defeat the party still rues and hopes to reverse. The BJP has now brought back Ms. Surendran for a second attempt in Palakkad, hoping to recover from the drubbing it suffered in the 2024 byelection, in which the party’s State vice-president C. Krishnakumar lost to Rahul Mamkootathil by a record margin of 18,840 votes.
Mamkootathil issue
This time, the BJP is targeting the UDF by highlighting its beleaguered MLA, Mr. Mamkootathil, who was jailed for 18 days and faces multiple cases of alleged sexual misconduct. On Saturday, the party and its leaders staged a symbolic trial of the Palakkad MLA in the town.
Although the Congress has expelled him, the UDF faces the difficult task of managing the political fallout from the Mamkootathil case. Palakkad has effectively been without representation for many months due to the serious allegations against Mr. Mamkootathil who was elected MLA in November 2024.
To capitalise on the situation both politically and emotionally, the BJP has brought in Ms. Surendran. Despite securing an average vote share of 41.6% in the past seven Assembly elections, the UDF is struggling and is yet to finalise a candidate capable of taking on Ms. Surendran.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), which has been in third place since 2016, is yet to announce its candidate. If the LDF fields a weak candidate, it could benefit the BJP.
LDF’s vote share
The LDF’s vote share in Palakkad has steadily declined over the past three decades, from 43.20% in 1996 to 24.52% in 2024. This erosion has corresponded with a rise in the BJP’s vote share. The trajectory is as follows—43.20% in 1996, 38.77% in 2001, 36.97% in 2006, 35.82% in 2011, 28.07% in 2016, 25.64% in 2021, and 24.52% in 2024. Given the current state of the LDF’s organisational machinery in Palakkad, a swift revival appears unlikely.
Published – March 17, 2026 03:52 am IST
