Palakkad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is reportedly considering Sobha Surendran as the party’s candidate in the upcoming Palakkad State Assembly bypoll.
Her success in increasing the vote share in the past elections she contested has made party workers confident in her candidacy for Palakkad. However, a final decision will be taken only after the party’s central leadership, with C Krishnakumar also under consideration, party sources said.
Palakkad will go to polls after the incumbent MLA Shafi Parambil contested and won the Lok Sabha election from Vadakara. In the last assembly election, Shafi won the seat with a majority of 3,859 votes, overcoming a stiff challenge from BJP's E Sreedharan, while LDF's CP Pramod finished third.
Sobha Surendran's track record
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Sobha contested from Attingal against INC’s Adoor Prakash and CPM’s Dr Anirudhan Sampath, securing 2,48,081 votes — 1,57,553 more than the party's previous candidate, S Girija Kumari, in 2014. This election happened during the heated debate over the Sabarimala women's entry issue.
In the 2024 elections, Sobha contested in Alappuzha against AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and sitting MP AM Ariff of CPM. She secured 28.3 per cent of the total votes, while Venugopal received 38.21 per cent (404,560 votes), defeating his immediate rival Ariff. Ariff gained 341,047 votes and the difference in vote percentage between him and Shobha was just 3.91 per cent. Sobha also increased the BJP voter turnout from 17.22 per cent to 28.3 per cent, an increase of 11.08 per cent.
Palakkad Assembly constituency
The Palakkad Assembly Constituency includes the Palakkad municipality and the panchayats of Kannadi, Mathur and Pirayiri. The Palakkad Municipal Corporation is ruled by the BJP, while Mathur and Pirayiri are ruled by the UDF. Kannadi is the only panchayat under the CPM.
Shafi became the UDF MLA by winning the constituency by a margin of 3,859 votes. He secured 54,079 votes while Sreedharan finished second with 50,220 votes, and Pramod finished third with 36,433 votes.
