# 1998 Indian general election in Kerala

The 1998 Indian general election were held to elect 20 members to the twelfth Lok Sabha from Kerala. Indian National Congress (INC)-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 11 seats, while the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) won the remaining 9 seats. The earlier election in 1996 saw both alliances win equal share of seats. Turnout for the election was at 70.66%

## Background

The ruling LDF government in the state faced infightings, especially among V. S. Achuthanandan and CITU as the former was denied the Chief Ministerial post. KSKTU launched agitations against paddy field reclamation, which spiraled into a law and order issue. The state High Court directed the government to return the crop fields to the farmers. M. L. Ahuja cited "an element of militancy" and "disregard for democratic forms of agitations" among the CPI(M) activists during the agitation.

## Alliances and parties

UDF is a Kerala legislative alliance formed by INC veteran K. Karunakaran. LDF comprises primarily of CPI(M) and the CPI, forming the Left Front in the national level. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leading National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at national level contested in all 20 seats.

### United Democratic Front

| No. | Party | Seats Contested |
| 1. | Indian National Congress | 17 |
| 2. | Indian Union Muslim League | 2 |
| 3. | Kerala Congress (M) | 1 |

### Left Democratic Front

| No. | Party | Election Symbol | Seats Contested |
| 1. | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Key | 9 |
| 2. | Communist Party of India | Star | 4 |
| 3. | Revolutionary Socialist Party | | 1 |
| 4. | Independents | | 3 |
| 5. | Janata Dal | | 2 |
| 6. | Kerala Congress | | 1 |

### National Democratic Alliance

| No. | Party | Election Symbol | Seats Contested |
| 1. | Bharatiya Janata Party | | 20 |

## List of elected MPs

| No. | Constituency | Name of Elected M.P. | Party Affiliation |
| 1 | Kasaragod | T. Govindan | CPI(M) |
| 2 | Kannur | Mullappally Ramachandran | INC |
| 3 | Vatakara | A. K. Premajam | CPI(M) |
| 4 | Kozhikode | P. Sankaran | INC |
| 5 | Manjeri | E. Ahamed | IUML |
| 6 | Ponnani | G. M. Banatwala | IUML |
| 7 | Palakkad | N. N. Krishnadas | CPI(M) |
| 8 | Ottapalam | S. Ajaya Kumar | CPI(M) |
| 9 | Thrissur | V. V. Raghavan | CPI |
| 10 | Mukundapuram | A. C. Jose | INC |
| 11 | Ernakulam | George Eden | INC |
| 12 | Muvattupuzha | P. C. Thomas | KC(M) |
| 13 | Kottayam | K. Suresh Kurup | CPI(M) |
| 14 | Idukki | P. C. Chacko | KEC |
| 15 | Alappuzha | V. M. Sudheeran | INC |
| 16 | Mavelikkara | P. J. Kurien | INC |
| 17 | Adoor | Chengara Surendran | CPI |
| 18 | Kollam | N. K. Premachandran | RSP |
| 19 | Chirayankil | Varkala Radhakrishnan | CPI(M) |
| 20 | Thiruvananthapuram | K. Karunakaran | INC |

## Results
### Performance of political parties

Vote Share by alliance
| No. | Party | Political Front | Seats | Votes | %Votes | ±pp |
| 1 | Indian National Congress | UDF | 8 | 57,46,566 | 38.67% | 0.66 |
| 2 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | LDF | 4 | 31,21,636 | 21% | 0.16 |
| 3 | Communist Party of India | LDF | 2 | 12,35,761 | 8.32% | 0.10 |
| 4 | Bharatiya Janata Party | NDA | 0 | 11,92,046 | 8.02% | 2.41 |
| 5 | Indian Union Muslim League | UDF | 2 | 7,45,070 | 5.01% | 0.07 |
| 6 | Janata Dal | LDF | 0 | 5,80,094 | 3.90% | 0.50 |
| 7 | Revolutionary Socialist Party | LDF | 1 | 3,96,145 | 2.67% | 0.17 |
| 8 | Kerala Congress (M) | UDF | 1 | 3,56,168 | 2.40% | 0.26 |
| 9 | Kerala Congress | LDF | 0 | 3,27,649 | 2.20% | 0.03 |
| 10 | Indian National League | none | 0 | 80,333 | 0.54% | 0.53 |
| 11 | Peoples Democratic Party | none | 0 | 40,972 | 0.28% | 0.17 |
| 12 | Bahujan Samaj Party | none | 0 | 19,475 | 0.1% | 0.05 |
| 13 | Shiv Sena | none | 0 | 3,290 | 0.02% | |
| 14 | Janata Party | none | 0 | 1,164 | 0.01% | |
| 15 | Nagaland Peoples Party | none | 0 | 1,066 | 0.01% | |
| 16 | The Humanist Party Of India | none | 0 | 765 | 0.01% | new |
| 17 | Samata Party | none | 0 | 558 | 0.00% | 0.01 |
| Independents | Independents | Independents | 2 | 10,13,067 | 6.82% | 0.15 |

### By constituency

| No. | Constituency | UDF candidate | Votes | % | Party | LDF candidate | Votes | % | Party | NDA candidate | Votes | % | Party | Winning alliance | Margin |
| 1 | Kasaragod | Khader Mangad | 3,47,670 | 39.9% | INC | T. Govindan | 3,95,910 | 45.4% | CPI(M) | P. K. Krishnadas | 1,03,093 | 11.8% | BJP | LDF | 48,240 |
| 2 | Kannur | Mullappally Ramachandran | 3,80,465 | 46.2% | INC | A .C. Shanmukhadas | 3,78,285 | 45.9% | IND | P. C. Mohanan | 42,760 | 5.2% | BJP | UDF | 2,180 |
| 3 | Vatakara | P. M. Suresh Babu | 3,48,715 | 41.3% | INC | A. K. Premajam | 4,07,876 | 48.3% | CPI(M) | Chettoor Balakrishnan | 69,564 | 8.2% | BJP | LDF | 59,161 |
| 4 | Kozhikode | P. Sankaran | 3,56,392 | 45.0% | INC | M. P. Veerendra Kumar | 3,37,735 | 42.6% | JD | P. C. Mohanan | 83,862 | 10.1% | BJP | UDF | 18,657 |
| 5 | Manjeri | E. Ahamed | 4,00,609 | 49.3% | IUML | K. V. Salahuddin | 2,94,600 | 36.2% | CPI(M) | Sumathy Haridas | 79,546 | 9.8% | BJP | UDF | 1,06,009 |
| 6 | Ponnani | G. M. Banatwalla | 3,44,461 | 49.7% | IUML | Minu Mumthas | 2,40,217 | 34.7% | CPI | Ahalliya Sankar | 65,008 | 9.4% | BJP | UDF | 1,04,244 |
| 7 | Palakkad | V. S. Vijayaraghavan | 3,20,941 | 43.1% | INC | N. N. Krishnadas | 3,45,963 | 46.4% | CPI(M) | T. C. Govindan | 61,419 | 8.2% | BJP | LDF | 25,022 |
| 8 | Ottapalam | K. K. Vijayalakshmi | 3,15,576 | 43.7% | INC | S. Ajayakumar | 3,35,376 | 46.5% | CPI(M) | P. M. Velayudhan | 63,185 | 8.8% | BJP | LDF | 19,800 |
| 9 | Thrissur | K. Muraleedharan | 3,47,945 | 46.2% | INC | V. V. Raghavan | 3,38,996 | 45.1% | CPI | P. D. Purushothaman | 54,479 | 7.2% | BJP | LDF | 18,409 |
| 10 | Mukundapuram | A. C. Jose | 3,97,156 | 50.1% | INC | P. Govinda Pillai | 3,44,693 | 43.5% | CPI(M) | M. S. Muraleedharan | 30,779 | 3.9% | BJP | UDF | 8,949 |
| 11 | Ernakulam | George Eden | 3,89,387 | 50.2% | INC | Sebastian Paul | 3,14,879 | 40.6% | IND | V. V. Augustine | 62,262 | 8.0% | BJP | UDF | 74,508 |
| 12 | Muvattupuzha | P. C. Thomas | 3,56,168 | 53.9% | KC(M) | Mathew John | 2,42,359 | 36.7% | JD | Narayanan Namboothiri | 50,738 | 7.7% | BJP | UDF | 1,13,809 |
| 13 | Kottayam | Ramesh Chennithala | 3,30,447 | 45.9% | INC | K. Suresh Kurup | 3,35,893 | 46.7% | CPI(M) | George Kurian | 42,830 | 5.9% | BJP | LDF | 5,446 |
| 14 | Idukki | P. C. Chacko | 3,33,999 | 46.4% | INC | K. Francis George | 3,27,649 | 45.6% | KEC | D. Asokakumar | 46,130 | 6.4% | BJP | UDF | 6,350 |
| 15 | Alappuzha | V. M. Sudheeran | 3,86,180 | 50.5% | INC | C. S. Sujatha | 3,45,543 | 45.2% | CPI(M) | T. L. Radhamma | 27,010 | 3.5% | BJP | UDF | 40,637 |
| 16 | Mavelikkara | P. J. Kurien | 2,75,001 | 44.0% | INC | Ninan Koshy | 2,73,740 | 43.8% | IND | Rajan Moolaveettil | 68,450 | 11.0% | BJP | UDF | 1,261 |
| 17 | Adoor | Kodikunnil Suresh | 3,16,292 | 45.8% | INC | Chengara Surendran | 3,33,297 | 48.2% | CPI | Kainakary Janardhanan | 34,816 | 5.0% | BJP | LDF | 17,005 |
| 18 | Kollam | K. C. Rajan | 3,24,383 | 42.4% | INC | N. K. Premachandran | 3,96,145 | 51.8% | RSP | Raichel Matthai | 36,916 | 4.8% | BJP | LDF | 71,762 |
| 19 | Chirayinkil | M. M. Hassan | 3,13,937 | 45.1% | INC | Varkala Radhakrishnan | 3,21,479 | 46.2% | CPI(M) | T. M. Viswambharan | 47,249 | 6.8% | BJP | LDF | 7,542 |
| 20 | Trivandrum | K. Karunakaran | 3,37,429 | 44.0% | INC | K. V. Surendranath | 3,22,031 | 42.0% | CPI | Kerala Varma Raja | 94,303 | 12.3% | BJP | UDF | 15,398 |