Kerala Assembly polls: Gandhi siblings recast Wayanad politics, but local fault lines persist

Gandhi siblings reshape Wayanad politics, yet local issues like tribal development and corruption continue to challenge electoral dynamics.

The Gandhi siblings have redrawn the map of Wayanad’s electoral politics. What was once a quiet Lok Sabha seat came into the national spotlight in 2019, when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi chose it as his second constituency, after Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

He won decisively, defeating P.P. Suneer of the Communist Party of India (CPI) by over 4.31 lakh votes, and securing the highest margins across all seven Assembly segments — Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, and Kalpetta in Wayanad district; Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram; and Thiruvambadi in Kozhikode.

Despite the Rahul wave of 2019, the CPI (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) managed to win three — Mananthavady, Thiruvambadi, and Nilambur — of the seven segments in the 2021 Assembly election.

In the remaining Assembly constituencies where the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won, Mr. Gandhi’s leads had been reduced considerably, by several thousand votes.

In Kalpetta, Mr. Gandhi had held a lead of 63,754 votes in the Lok Sabha election, but Congress nominee T. Siddique’s victory margin in the Assembly election fell to 5,470. In Wandoor, Congress candidate A.P. Anilkumar’s margin was reduced to 15,563, where Mr. Gandhi had held an advantage of 69,555 votes. I.C. Balakrishnan’s victory margin in Sulthan Bathery was only 11,822, as against Mr. Gandhi’s lead of 70,465 votes.

Only in Eranad did the Indian Union Muslim League’s P.K. Basheer put up a notable performance, with a margin of 22,546 votes, compared with Mr. Gandhi’s lead of 56,527.