Elamaram Kareem: The CPM's Candidate For Kozhikode Constituency (Photo on Facebook Elamaram Kareem)
CPM in Kerala released its candidate list for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and the party has picked Elamaram Kareem for Kozhikode, a constituency that has been in the hands of the Congress party for the past three terms. With the left party choosing Mr Kareem, the senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP, the party hopes to regain the seat.
It was in 2004 that the left party won the seat last time. Since then, the Congress” MK Raghavan has been consecutively representing the constituency – from 2009 to 2024. MK Raghavan, the Sitting MP from the constituency will be fielded for the fourth time in Kozhikode, as per the reports from the local media.
During the 2019 general election, the congress’s Raghavan secured 45.97 per cent of votes against the CPM’s Pradeep Kumar who got 37.92 per cent of votes. However, during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the margin was even narrower as Raghavan secured 42.15 percent while the CPM’s Vijayaraghavan accumulated 40.36 per cent votes, giving hope to the left party.
Given the close fight atmosphere between the congress and left party in the constituency, the CPM brought in the veteran leader and Rajya Sabha MP Mr Kareem who has enough influence in the constituency to take on the incumbent congress MP. Mr Kareem has served as the Minister for Industries and Commerce in the V. S. Achuthanandan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government from 2006 to 2011, adding value to his candidacy.
Kareem recently reinforced his public visibility in the constituency by criticising both the Congress and BJP parties at the inauguration of the protesting event that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) organised against the professor of the Calicut”s National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sreeja Aandavan who praised Nathuram Godse, the assassinator of Mahatma Gandhi . He also slammed the Congress party for pursuing soft-Hindutva. Kareem however, seems to have already begun his election campaigns in the constituency, resolving to take back the seat from the Congress’s three-time MP.
