# 1989 Indian general election in Kerala

The 1989 Indian general election were held to elect 20 members to the ninth Lok Sabha from Kerala. Indian National Congress (INC)-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 17 seats while Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) won the remaining 3 seats. Turnout for the election was at 79.30% In the Lok Sabha, INC won plurality of seats, however Janata Dal (JD), led by V. P. Singh formed the government, albeit a short-lived one, with support from BJP and CPI(M).

## 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) contested in 19 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 | 10 |
| 2. | Communist Party of India | Star | 3 |
| 3. | Indian Congress (Socialist) - Sarat Chandra Singha | | 1 |
| 4. | Independents | | 3 |
| 5. | Janata Dal | | 1 |
| 6. | Revolutionary Socialist Party | | 1 |
| 7. | Kerala Congress | | 1 |

### Bharatiya Janata Party

| No. | Party | Election Symbol | Seats Contested |
| 1. | Bharatiya Janata Party | | 19 |

## List of elected MPs

| No. | Constituency | Name of Elected M.P. | Party Affiliation |
| 1 | Kasaragod | Ramanna Rai | CPI(M) |
| 2 | Kannur | Mullappally Ramachandran | INC |
| 3 | Vatakara | K. P. Unnikrishnan | ICS(SCS) |
| 4 | Kozhikode | K. Muraleedharan | INC |
| 5 | Manjeri | G.M. Banatwalia | IUML |
| 6 | Ponnani | Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait | IUML |
| 7 | Palakkad | A. Vijayaraghavan | CPI(M) |
| 8 | Ottapalam | K. R. Narayanan | INC |
| 9 | Thrissur | P. A. Antony | INC |
| 10 | Mukundapuram | Savitri Lakshmanan | INC |
| 11 | Ernakulam | K. V. Thomas | INC |
| 12 | Muvattupuzha | P. C. Thomas | KC(M) |
| 13 | Kottayam | Ramesh Chennithala | INC |
| 14 | Idukki | K. M. Mathew | INC |
| 15 | Alappuzha | Vakkom Purushothaman | INC |
| 16 | Mavelikkara | P. J. Kurien | INC |
| 17 | Adoor | Kodikunnil Suresh | INC |
| 18 | Kollam | S. Krishna Kumar | INC |
| 19 | Chirayankil | Thalekunnil Basheer | INC |
| 20 | Thiruvananthapuram | A. Charles | INC |

## Results
### Performance of political parties

Vote Share by alliance
| No. | Party | Political Front | Seats | Votes | %Votes | ±pp |
| 1 | Indian National Congress | UDF | 14 | 62,18,850 | 41.70% | 8.43 |
| 2 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | LDF | 2 | 34,11,227 | 22.87% | 0.60 |
| 3 | Communist Party of India | LDF | 0 | 9,24,994 | 6.20% | 1.17 |
| 4 | Indian Union Muslim League | UDF | 2 | 7,80,322 | 5.23% | 0.06 |
| 5 | Bharatiya Janata Party | | 0 | 6,72,613 | 4.51% | 2.76 |
| 6 | Indian Congress (Socialist) - Sarat Chandra Singha | LDF | 1 | 3,70,434 | 2.48% | 1.90 |
| 7 | Revolutionary Socialist Party | LDF | 0 | 3,59,393 | 2.41% | new |
| 8 | Kerala Congress (M) | UDF | 1 | 3,52,191 | 2.36% | new |
| 9 | Janata Dal | LDF | 0 | 2,77,682 | 1.86% | new |
| 10 | Kerala Congress | LDF | 0 | 68,811 | 0.46% | 1.91 |
| 11 | Janata Party | none | 0 | 38,492 | 0.26% | 1.87 |
| 12 | Bahujan Samaj Party | none | 0 | 17,762 | 0.12% | new |
| 13 | Deseeya Karshaka Party | none | 0 | 3,059 | 0.02% | new |
| 14 | Socialist Unity Centre of India | none | 0 | 2,151 | 0.01% | new |
| Independents | Independents | Independents | 0 | 14,14,560 | 9.49% | 2.40 |

### By constituency

| No. | Constituency | UDF candidate | Votes | % | Party | LDF candidate | Votes | % | Party | BJP / Other candidate | Votes | % | Party | Winning alliance | Margin |
| 1 | Kasaragod | I. Rama Rai | 3,57,177 | 44.5% | INC | M. Rammana Rai | 3,58,723 | 44.7% | CPI(M) | C. K. Padmanabhan | 69,419 | 8.6% | BJP | LDF | 1,546 |
| 2 | Kannur | Mullappally Ramachandran | 3,91,042 | 50.1% | INC | P. Sasi | 3,48,638 | 44.6% | CPI(M) | Palliyara Raman | 31,266 | 4.0% | BJP | UDF | 42,404 |
| 3 | Vatakara | A. Sujanapal | 3,62,225 | 45.5% | INC | K. P. Unnikrishnan | 3,70,434 | 46.5% | ICS(SCS) | P. K. Krishnadas | 45,558 | 5.7% | BJP | LDF | 8,209 |
| 4 | Kozhikode | K. Muraleedharan | 3,77,858 | 47.9% | INC | E. K. Imbichibava | 3,48,901 | 44.3% | CPI(M) | P. S. Sreedharan Pillai | 49,696 | 6.3% | BJP | UDF | 28,957 |
| 5 | Manjeri | Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait | 4,01,975 | 49.6% | IUML | K. V. Salahuddin | 3,31,693 | 40.9% | IND | Ahalya Sankar | 51,634 | 7.0% | BJP | UDF | 70,282 |
| 6 | Ponnani | G. M. Banatwalia | 3,78,347 | 53.2% | IUML | M. Rahmathulia | 2,70,828 | 38.1% | CPI | K. Janachandran | 48,892 | 6.9% | BJP | UDF | 1,07,519 |
| 7 | Palakkad | V. S. Vijayaraghavan | 3,47,115 | 46.8% | INC | A. Vijayaraghavan | 3,48,401 | 47.0% | CPI(M) | T. Chandrasekharan | 27,220 | 3.7% | BJP | LDF | 1,286 |
| 8 | Ottapalam | K. R. Narayanan | 3,50,683 | 48.5% | INC | Lenin Rajendran | 3,24,496 | 44.9% | CPI(M) | Lakshmanan | 32,892 | 4.5% | BJP | UDF | 26,187 |
| 9 | Thrissur | P. A. Antony | 3,38,271 | 47.0% | INC | Meenakshi Thampan | 3,32,036 | 46.2% | CPI | K. V. Sreedharan | 38,205 | 5.3% | BJP | UDF | 6,235 |
| 10 | Mukundapuram | Savithri Lakshmanan | 3,67,931 | 48.5% | INC | C. O. Poulose | 3,49,177 | 46.0% | CPI(M) | K. K. Gangadharan | 28,781 | 3.8% | BJP | UDF | 18,754 |
| 11 | Ernakulam | K. V. Thomas | 3,85,176 | 49.6% | INC | P. Subramnoian Poti | 3,48,711 | 44.9% | IND | A. N. Radhakrishnan | 29,162 | 3.8% | BJP | UDF | 36,465 |
| 12 | Muvattupuzha | P. C. Thomas | 3,52,191 | 48.1% | KC(M) | P. J. Joseph | 68,811 | 9.4% | KEC | C. Poulose | 2,83,380 | 38.7% | IND | UDF | 68,811 |
| 13 | Kottayam | Ramesh Chennithala | 3,84,809 | 51.1% | INC | K. Suresh Kurup | 3,31,276 | 44.0% | CPI(M) | Ettumanoor Radhakrishnan | 18,449 | 2.5% | BJP | UDF | 53,533 |
| 14 | Idukki | K. M. Mathew | 3,98,516 | 53.4% | INC | M. C. Josephine | 3,07,037 | 41.1% | CPI(M) | M. N. Jayachandran | 25,354 | 3.4% | BJP | UDF | 91,479 |
| 15 | Alappuzha | Vakkom Purushotham | 3,75,763 | 50.0% | INC | K. V. Devadas | 3,50,640 | 46.7% | CPI(M) | K. D. Ramakrishnan | 15,127 | 2.0% | BJP | UDF | 25,123 |
| 16 | Mavelikkara | P. J. Kurian | 3,34,864 | 50.9% | INC | Thampan Thomas | 2,77,682 | 42.2% | JD | Prathapachandra Verma | 30,229 | 4.6% | BJP | UDF | 57,182 |
| 17 | Adoor | Kodikunnil Suresh | 3,43,672 | 49.6% | INC | N. Rajan | 3,22,130 | 46.5% | CPI | E. K. Sasidharan | 17,123 | 2.5% | BJP | UDF | 21,542 |
| 18 | Kollam | S. Krishnakumar | 3,86,855 | 49.9% | INC | Babu Divakaran | 3,59,393 | 46.4% | RSP | P. K. S. Rajeev | 16,202 | 2.1% | IND | UDF | 27,462 |
| 19 | Chirayinkil | Thalekunnil Basheer | 3,49,068 | 47.8% | INC | Susheela Gopalan | 3,43,938 | 47.1% | CPI(M) | V. N. Gopalakrishnan Nair | 23,049 | 3.2% | BJP | UDF | 5,130 |
| 20 | Trivandrum | A. Charles | 3,67,825 | 48.6% | INC | O. N. V. Kurup | 3,16,912 | 41.9% | IND | P. Asok Kumar | 56,046 | 7.4% | BJP | UDF | 50,913 |