Kazhakkoottam has evolved into one of Kerala’s most closely watched constituencies, shifting from a traditional UDF–LDF contest into a high-stakes triangular battle. While Nemom marked the BJP’s first breakthrough in the state, Kazhakkoottam has emerged as a parallel front where the party has steadily expanded its footprint.

In the 2026 election, former Union Minister and BJP leader V Muraleedharan is locked in a tight contest with sitting CPM MLA Kadakampally Surendran and Congress candidate T Sarathchandra Prasad. The Manorama News–C Voter exit poll does not indicate a clear frontrunner, pointing to a neck-and-neck race in the constituency.

BJP’s gradual rise
The electoral trajectory of Kazhakkoottam mirrors a structural shift similar to Nemom, though without a breakthrough win so far. In 2011, the BJP was a marginal player with just 6.86 per cent of the vote. By 2016, it registered a sharp surge, with V Muraleedharan securing 31.90 per cent and emerging as the runner-up, pushing the Congress’s sitting MLA M A Vaheed to third place. In 2021, despite a broader LDF advantage across the state, the BJP retained its second position in the constituency with 29.06 per cent of the vote through Sobha Surendran.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Rajeev Chandrasekhar finished ahead in the Kazhakkoottam Assembly segment, along with Vattiyoorkavu and Nemom, outperforming Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor in these pockets. The emergence of Narendra Modi at the national level and the Technopark-inspired transformation of a largely rural constituency into an urban one has spurred the BJP's growth in the area.

Kadakampally Surendran has held the seat for two consecutive terms, in 2016 and 2021, anchoring the LDF’s position. In 2021, he secured a comfortable victory with 46.04 per cent of the vote, winning by a margin of 23,497 votes. In 2016, he had won by 7,347 votes with a vote share of 37.38 per cent.

Once a Congress stronghold under M A Vaheed, who won the seat in 2001, 2006 and 2011, Kazhakkoottam has seen a steady erosion of UDF support. In 2001, Vaheed had contested as a Congress rebel and trounced both Congress and the CPM. Nonetheless, he soon returned to Congress. The party’s vote share dropped from 46.38 per cent in 2011 to 28.82 per cent in 2016 and further to 23.85 per cent in 2021, indicating that a significant portion of the anti-LDF vote has shifted towards the BJP.