Kunhikrishnan finds support in Payyannur but CPM's Madhusoodanan still ahead in the race

Onmanorama pollmeter tracks 12 closely-fought constituencies across different phases of campaign: Nemom, Manjeshwar, Palakkad, Kunnathunad, Pala, Kottarakkara, Peravoor, Thripunithura, Ambalappuzha, Taliparamba, Payyannur and Nattika. This is the second part on Payyannur (published on April 3) where Onmanorama captures emerging trends from ground-level feed. Read the first part here.

At noon, under a punishing sun, around 50 men and women gather at Pattiam Kandoth, a “party village” of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM] in Payyannur to listen to their MLA and candidate T I Madhusoodanan. He thanks them for waiting, turns swiftly to attacking Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, and asserts that the reading in Kerala is a third term for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) under Pinarayi Vijayan.

He acknowledges his formidable challenger in his home constituency only in passing: “Payyannur is not a place where miracles happen.”

Fifty is a respectable crowd in the heat. But the optics tell a more cautious story; another 25 chairs lie empty. A few kilometres away, near Perumba, closer to Payyannur town, a similar crowd attended his corner meeting. Every seat was taken. The difference is subtle, but in a constituency like Payyannur, such details carry weight.

Madhusoodanan faces an unusual and potentially disruptive challenge from V Kunhikrishnan, a former district committee member who has turned whistleblower. He has publicly accused the MLA of misappropriating funds raised for the family of slain party worker C V Dhanraj, for constructing a party office in 2016, and for the 2021 election campaign.

Having quit the party, Kunhikrishnan has entered the fray as an independent, with a singular goal: to defeat the sitting MLA. The UDF, traditionally a distant second here, has sensed an opening and thrown its weight behind him.

The Left’s response is two-pronged. One, it seeks to undercut Kunhikrishnan among core Left voters by branding him a turncoat who has aligned with the Congress. Two, it carries the battle into Congress's pockets, accusing the party of surrendering its political identity in Payyannur by backing a rebel instead of fielding its own candidate.

Madhusoodanan leans heavily on that line. “We are a bit sad,” he says in an interview with Onmanorama. “Payyannur was an important centre of the freedom struggle, called the second Bardoli. It is the land of the Salt Satyagraha, the centre of Swami Ananda Theertha's activities. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have come here.

“It was from Payyannur that the Congress in Kerala declared complete independence as its goal. With such a tradition, why is the Congress unable to field a candidate? Why is it not ready to contest with self-respect? There are many Congress believers here. Why is the party betraying them?”

He sharpens it further: “You know the Left cannot be weakened here. Then why give up your political identity? The Congress must answer that.”

On the ground, that message is pushed aggressively. Though Kunhikrishnan insists he is an independent, CPM workers mischievously prefix “UDF candidate” to his name in the few campaign graffiti that exist. In contrast, the constituency is saturated with mammoth flex boards of Madhusoodanan. A full-length poster of the MLA stands right in front of Kunhikrishnan’s house. Another rises outside the home of his brother, a former CPM district committee member.

Kunhikrishnan’s own posters are sparse. His camp claims suppression. “We haven’t invested much in posters. But even those put up by Congress workers are being vandalised or stolen,” alleges Prasanan, a core supporter. But he points to the half-empty meeting at Pattiam Kandoth as a sign that all is not seamless within the party village. “People not showing up is a big deal in party villages. And they are calling us, assuring support,” he says.

That claim, if true, cuts into the CPM’s core strength: its deep social embedment. In Payyannur, party influence runs through an ecosystem of cooperative societies -- banking, hospitals, printing presses, handloom units, restaurants like Kairali, and tourism ventures. Together, they employ around 8,000 people directly, according to Madhusoodanan. Extend that across families, and the number becomes electorally significant.

However, the MLA rejects the suggestion that these institutions are instruments of political control. “It is a wrong interpretation that these societies are the party’s strength. The party’s strength lies in how its workers intervene to resolve people’s problems,” he says.

But the counter-narrative persists. In the Kara division, where CPM rebel C Vaishak won a local body seat, pushing the official Left candidate to third place, there is talk of a breach in the fortress. Kunhikrishnan’s supporters believe similar undercurrents exist in Ramanthali, Kunnaru and Kara, though they concede that areas like Korom, Karivellur and Mambalam may hold for the official candidate.

The arithmetic they present is ambitious: a potential shift of at least 25,000 Left votes. If realised, it could flip the constituency.

Yet, the rebellion remains cautious. Vaishak, though supportive, has not formally campaigned for Kunhikrishnan. And the costs of dissent are visible. Prasanan’s motorcycle was set on fire, he alleges, for backing Kunhikrishnan. He also claims to attempt to manufacture narratives. “Yesterday, a CPM booth secretary accused us of vandalising his house. Senior leaders such as P K Sreemathi and Madhusoodanan rushed there. The Local Secretary gave a bite, saying Kunhikrishan was behind the attack. Within 30 minutes, it turned out that the booth secretary's nephew had done it after being denied money to buy alcohol,” he says.

Madhusoodanan, however, betrays no such anxiety. When told he may still edge through on the strength of the party, he corrects the premise: not “may”, but “will”.

That confidence rests on history, organisation, and a belief that rebellion here has limits.

For now, Madhusoodan continues to be ahead. But on the margins, in half-filled chairs and whispered assurances, a contest is taking shape.
Read the first part here.