CHELAKKARA: Although all the attention was focused on the Palakkad constituency with controversies and accusations, the Chelakkara constituency was very crucial for the LDF. Being in the third position in Palakkad, will not create any political impact. However, that is not the case when it comes to Chelakkara constituency. A loss in Chelakkara, which has fielded only left-wing candidates since 1996, would have been seen as a verdict against the government.

The congress and the UDF discussed the government's failures in the constituency where a political race was witnessed. However, this didn’t turn into votes for the party in the constituency. The Congress managed to create an impression of neck to neck in the campaign but it did not reflect in the polls. The first allegation was that Chelakara's own Radhetan (K Radhakrishnan) was removed from state politics without considering his interest.

The UDF highlighted K Radhakrishnan's absence from the road show held after the announcement of U R Pradeep's candidature. However, the CPM refuted the allegation by asking how Radhakrishnan, who was in Thiruvananthapuram to attend the party's state secretariat, could participate in the road show. It should be assumed that the people of Chelakkara had accepted Radhakrishnan's call that they who love him should vote for Pradeep.

When Radhakrishnan resigned as minister, the people of Chelakkara also rejected the campaign that another person from the SC category was not inducted into the cabinet. The history of standing with left candidates in the constituency was repeated. Pradeep surpassed the majority he got in 2016. Along with that, another thing that needs to be mentioned is the case of P V Anwar's candidacy. N K Sudhir, who left the Congress and went with Anwar, could not create any impact in the constituency.

When K Radhakrishnan contested from the Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, he was able to reduce the majority he got in Chelakkara to 5000 votes, the reason behind the Congress' preparation for fielding Ramya Haridas in the assembly by-elections. In 2021, Radhakrishnan got a majority of 39,400 votes in the Lok Sabha, behind which the Congress thought it could capture Chelakkara if there was at least another Left candidate. The UDF calculated that there would be public anger against the state government, but that too did not go as expected by the UDF leadership.