Palakkad: K Radhakrishnan rescued the CPM-led LDF from the ignominy of drawing a blank in the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala. The state Minister for SC/ST Development, Parliamentary Affairs was the lone man standing in the Left corner while every other candidate lost.

Radhakrishnan won by a margin of 20,111. The CPM minister secured 4,03,447 votes to pip sitting MP Ramya Haridas of Congress.

The Manorama News-VMR exit poll had predicted a neck-and-neck race in Alathur. The exit poll gave 40.96 per cent to Haridas while predicting a share of 40.54 for Radhakrishnan.

In 2019, Ramya Haridas shocked the LDF candidate P K Biju, who was aiming for a hat-trick, by a margin of 1,58,968 votes. Ramya also got 51,37 per cent of votes polled. The CPM’s vote share was 36.77 per cent and the NDA candidate T V Babu got 8.81 per cent.