Kollam Constituency: A ‘Cinematic’ Battle For Power With NK Premachandran
Kollam is a prominent Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. It is the bastion of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP). RSP was a part of LDF and later merged with UDF. RSP holds strong influence in Kollam. RSP candidates have been elected seven times from this constituency. Congress won the constituency five times, and the LDF won it twice.
NK Premachandran, who served as the water resources minister from 2006 to 2011, has been the Kollam MP for the past two terms. He is the sole RSP MP for parliament from Kerala. In 2014, NK Premachandran won the seat by defeating veteran CPIM leader MA Baby, former education minister (2006–11), by gaining a majority of 37649 votes. In 2019, NK Premachandran won the seat with a margin of almost 1.5 lakh votes; KN Balagopal, the present finance minister of Kerala, was then the LDF nominee.
In his third attempt, NK Premachandran faces challenges from M Mukesh and G Krishnakumar, renowned film actors. Mukesh, the sitting MLA of Kollam,is the CPIM nominee. The actor-politician got elected for the second time as a legislator from Kollam in 2021. However, his victory margin decreased from 17,611 votes in 2016 to 2,072 votes. Krishnakumar is the BJP candidate for Kollam. NK Premachandran has sound experience in Parliament and state politics, which reflects in the increase in victory margin as well.
LDF intends to retake Kollam through Mukesh, as he is the MLA of Kollam for the two terms. Out of the seven assembly seats in Kollam, LDF holds the majority. Only the Kundara assembly is under UDF. But, for the last 3 terms, UDF gained the lead in Parliament elections. In 2009 and 2014, four assemblies were in favour of the UDF. In 2019, all seven assemblies supported UDF.
RSP has a strong foundation in Kollam. RSP’s history provides a favourable situation for NK Premachandran. His victory could provide a possibility for the party”s win in the next assembly election as well.
(This story is part of a Timeline. internship project.)
