Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal registers narrow win from Kottarakkara assembly seat

Kollam: Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Monday secured a narrow victory in the Kottarakkara constituency in the April 9 state assembly polls, as he faced a tough fight from former CPI(M) leader Aisha Potty, who had joined the Congress in January this year.

Balagopal, who got 63,926 votes, won with just a margin of 1,012, against Potty who had won three times consecutively from the Kottarakkara constituency in the 2006, 2011 and 2016 assembly polls as a CPI(M) candidate.

Potty, in 2016, had secured 83,443 votes and won with a margin of over 40,000 votes from the constituency.


In 2021, Balagopal was fielded from the seat and got 68,770 seats, winning by a margin of 10,814.

Besides, state PWD and Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas, Balagopal is the only CPI(M) minister to survive the Left rout by the UDF in the Assembly polls.

However, by comparison, three out of the 4 CPI ministers in the second LDF government have healthy leads in the Assembly polls as the counting of votes nears the end.

State Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development J Chinchurani, from the CPI, is trailing by over 7,000 votes in her Chadayamangalam constituency as the counting heads into the last round, as per Election Commission data. PTI