Kerala elections: Covid-response architect Shailaja in tough fight Vs Kerala PCC chief

Bengaluru: Former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja, seen as a potential CPM CM face, faces a tough contest in Peravoor, a Congress-leaning seat.

In Kannur district near the Karnataka border, the hilly constituency has many Christian settler families aligned with Congress. UDF candidate Sunny Joseph, a three-time MLA and KPCC chief, shares this background, boosting his local connect.

"There is a clear edge for Joseph," said analyst Umesh Babu KC, noting Shailaja's stature may not offset his entrenched advantage in Peravoor.


He added a broader pro-UDF trend this election could reflect in seats like Peravoor.

Incidentally, Shailaja was the last Left Democratic Front (LDF) MLA who represented the constituency. After losing to Joseph in 2011, she shifted to Kuthuparamba in 2016 and was the state health minister during 2016-2021, and won widespread praise for the state's handling of the first wave of the Covid. In the 2021 assembly polls, she won from Mattannur with a majority of more than 60,000 votes.

While Shailaja is a popular politician, Babu said recent electoral outcomes underlined shifting voter sentiment. The UDF's strong performance in local body elections late last year and Shailaja's defeat to Shafi Parambil in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Vadakara by a large margin highlight the opposition's momentum. According to him, this also reflects both broader anti-incumbency against the LDF and a dilution of Shailaja's post-Covid popularity wave amid continued scrutiny over her tenure as health minister.

There have been reports that Shailaja was reluctant to return to Peravoor, preferring Mattannur instead. The CPI(M), meanwhile, defended its decision to field her from Peravoor as a strategic move-deploying a high-profile leader to take on a rival political heavyweight in a Congress stronghold.

The BJP-led NDA, which has not made much inroads into the constituency in elections so far, has this time fielded Paily Vathiattu of the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS).