Kerala election yields only a smattering of ‘son-shine’

22 sons and one daughter of prominent leaders were in the fray, just 10 won

The Kerala electorate seems to have given thumbs down to a majority of the sons of MPs and MLAs, who tried their luck in the just-concluded Assembly elections. Only 10 of such 23 candidates from the leading political fronts got elected.

K. Muraleedharan and Padmaja Venugopal, children of the late former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, lost from Nemom and Thrissur, respectively. Of the five sons who contested the polls in Kollam district, only three won. They are P.S. Supal (son of the late former Minister P.K. Srinivasan) of the Communist Party of India (CPI) from Punalur, K.B. Ganesh Kumar (son of the late former Minister R. Balakrishna Pillai) of the Kerala Congress (B) from Pathanapuram, and Sujith Vijayan (son of the late N. Vijayan Pillai of the Communist Marxist Party faction) from Chavara. Babu Divakaran and Shibu Baby John of the Revolutionary Socialist Party lost from Eravipuram and Chavara, respectively. V.R. Sunil Kumar, son of CPI veteran and the late former Minister V.K. Rajan, again won from Kodungallur in Thrissur.

M.K. Muneer, Indian Union Muslim League leader and son of the late former Chief Minister C.H. Mohammed Koya, won from the Koduvally seat in Kozhikode district. P.K. Basheer, son of the late IUML leader Seethi Haji, won a hat-trick victory from the Eranad segment in Malappuram district. V.E. Abdul Gafoor, son of the former Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, lost his father’s pocket borough of Kalamassery in Ernakulam.

K.S. Sabarinadhan, Youth Congress leader and son of the late Assembly Speaker G. Karthikeyan, lost his sitting seat of Aruvikkara. Sumesh K. Achuthan, the son of former Congress MLA K. Achuthan, lost from Chittur in Palakkad, once represented by his father. Rinku Cherian, son of the former MLA M.C. Cherian, lost from Ranni in Pathanamthitta. Cyriac Thomas, son of former Congress MLA K.K. Thomas, lost in Peerumedu in Idukki.

Face to face

A significant victory was that of Mani C. Kappan, son of the late MP Cherian J. Kappan, from the Pala seat in Kottayam district. He defeated Jose K. Mani, leader of the Kerala Congress (M), and the son of the late party supremo K.M. Mani. However, N. Jayaraj, son of the late KC(M) MLA K. Narayana Kurup, retained his sitting seat of Kanjirappally. Francis George, son of Kerala Congress founder and the late former Minister K.M. George, lost in Idukki. Anoop Jacob, Kerala Congress (Jacob) leader and son of the late former Minister T.M. Jacob, retained his sitting seat of Piravom in Ernakulam.

C.P. Pramod of the CPI(M), son of the former party MLA E. Padmanabhan, lost in Palakkad. From the Loktantrik Janata Dal stable, only K.P. Mohanan, son of the late former Minister P.R. Kurup, won, from Koothuparamba in Kannur. Party State president M.P. Shreyams Kumar, son of the late former Minister M.P. Veerendrakumar, lost in Kalpetta in Wayanad.