Kerala Assembly Elections 2026 | Poll fever overshadows summer heat in Palakkad

Palakkad (Kerala): Asked if the peak summer sun is hotter or the triangular electoral battle, Palakkad town based autorickshaw driver Chenthamara has no doubts.

"It is the elections that are hotter here. We are now quite used to this peak summer," says Chenthamara.

As one gets off a train at Palakkad, the heat of both summer as well as the elections can be felt. Amidst the hot breeze, campaign vehicles of the Congress, the CPI(M) and the BJP are seen moving even when the sun is directly overhead.

The temperature of Palakkad is already close to 40 degrees.

Apart from the heat of the elections and the summer, something more is also heating up in the region during polls- NMR Biriyani and sexual allegations against sitting MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, who was expelled from the Congress. 

CPI (M) has backed N M R Razak, one of the owners of the family run NMR Biriyani House in Palakkad, who is standing as an independent candidate.

Razak needs no introduction in the constituency.

Even as Palakkad earlier used to witness direct fight between the CPI (M) and the Congress and both alternately winning elections, in the last four elections, including a by-poll,  it is the Congress that has come on top. BJP finished as the runner-up in the last three elections.

Shafi Parambil, who won with a margin of 7,403 in 2011, improved it to 17,483 in 2016. But in 2021 ,"Metro Man" E Sreedharan, who was projected as BJP's Chief Minister candidate, gave a tough fight to Shafi by bringing down his margin to 3,859. In the 2024 by-polls following Shafi's shift to the Lok Sabha, Mamkootathil improved the margin to 18,840.

Mamkootathil is out of the picture in Palakkad as even his presence could be a political weapon for the rival camps.

BJP fire-brand leader Shobha Surendran, who is now contesting from the seat, had brought the saffron party to the second place at Palakkad in 2016.

While Congress-led United Democratic Front often used to get the backing of the sizable Muslim community in the constituency, the CPI (M)'s move of fielding Razak seems to have brought cheers to the BJP camps as there could be split in the Muslim votes. 

Even as actor, TV personality and stand-up comedian Ramesh Pisharody fielded by the Congress is new to electoral politics, he is also likely to put up a good fight.

All three candidates are intensively campaigning across the constituency, which conveys the intense fight going on.

However, with some minority outfits already stating that they would ensure the defeat of the BJP in seats where the saffron party has a sniff of winning, chances of last minute undercurrents are quite high in the keenly watched central Kerala town.

Even as sexual allegations against Mamkootathil brought some damage to the Congress-led UDF, many like Sabrit, who is said to be the first woman autorickshaw driver in the town, are still indebted to the support received from Shafi Parambil and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

"Shafi helped me meet Oommen Chandy during his mass contact programme as Chief Minister. Thus I got financial assistance to buy this autorickshaw," says Sabrit.