Muraleedharan defeated ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supported independent candidate Cheriyan Phillip by a margin of over 10,000 votes.
Muraleedharan has been having a bad run, being defeated in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the 2006 assembly polls and in the 2004 assembly by-election.
After being suspended from the Congress for six years in 2005, he returned to the party fold early this year, soon after his father passed away in December 2010.
Published 13 May 2011, 04:58 IST