Perhaps for the first time in recent political history of Kerala, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M] has fielded a Minister to contest a Lok Sabha seat. K. Radhakrishnan, Kerala’s Minister for Devaswoms and Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes, is the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate for the Alathur constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The party is heavily pinning its hopes on the winnability quotient of Mr. Radhakrishnan to wrest the Alathur seat. Its former two-time MP in the Lower House, P.K. Biju, lost to the Congress candidate Ramya Haridas by a margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes in the 2019 general elections.
A former Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2016 to 2011, Mr. Radhakrishnan is no stranger to electoral politics, having romped home in all six elections he had contested before. However, this marks his maiden attempt for a Lok Sabha seat.
