Lok Sabha elections: With fourth consecutive win, Raghavan sets another record in Kozhikode

UDF's M.K. Raghavan secures fourth consecutive victory in Kozhikode Lok Sabha with biggest margin yet.

United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate M.K. Raghavan’s fourth consecutive victory in the Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency is incidentally his biggest win too. The lead of 1,42,087 is 56,000 votes more than his margin in 2019.

Mr. Raghavan has scored only 18,450 votes more than in 2019, though the margin is higher this time. Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem, Mr. Raghavan’s main opponent, scored 3,69,807 votes, which is 38,412 less than what his predecessor A. Pradeep Kumar scored in 2019. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate M.T. Ramesh could add 17,994 votes more to the tally of his predecessor Prakash Babu.

With Mr. Raghavan banking on his popularity and image as an approachable leader, the LDF’s allegations that he had failed as an MP in his three previous terms failed to influence voters.

Mr. Kareem was considered a heavy weight opponent by the LDF and was designated to stop Mr. Raghavan’s dream run. However, Mr. Kareem could not match up to Mr. Raghavan’s popularity. The LDF initially tried to play up Mr. Kareem’s image by referring to him as ‘Kareem ikka’ as against Mr. Raghavan who is often referred to as ‘Raghavettan’, but withdrew the campaign instantly as it backfired, with critics alleging it to be an attempt to incite religious sentiments.

During the campaign phase, Mr. Raghavan addressed the public highlighting the various Central projects that he had brought into Kozhikode while the LDF criticised that he was a poor performer in parliamentary debates and discussions and that he made no original contribution to the constituency. Mr. Kareem, on the other hand, highlighted his achievements when he was the State Industries Minister.

The Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency consists of Assembly segments Balussery, Elathur, Kozhikode North, Kozhikode South, Beypore, Kunnamangalam, and Koduvally. Except for Koduvally represented by IUML MLA M.K. Muneer, all these segments are represented by LDF MLAs in the Assembly. Interestingly, Mr. Raghavan managed to get more votes than Mr. Kareem in all of them, even in LDF strongholds such as Beypore and Kozhikode North Assembly constituencies. Mr. Kareem, who had represented the Kozhikode South (then Kozhikode-2) and Beypore Assembly segments in the past, failed to impress the voters much in even those segments.

During the counting, Mr. Raghavan maintained a clear lead throughout and never did Mr. Kareem or Mr. Ramesh had a moment of supremacy over him.