K. Muraleedharan

Not to be confused with V. Muraleedharan.

In this Malayali name, the surname is Kannoth.

K. Muraleedharan
Minister for Electricity, Government of Kerala
In office 11 February 2004 – 14 May 2004
Chief Minister	A. K. Antony
Preceded by	Kadavoor Sivadasan
Succeeded by	Kadavoor Sivadasan
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 23 May 2019 (2019-05-23) – 4 June 2024 (2024-06-04)
Preceded by	Mullappally Ramachandran
Succeeded by	Shafi Parambil
Constituency	Vatakara
In office 1999–2004
Preceded by	P. Sankaran
Succeeded by	M. P. Veerendra Kumar
Constituency	Kozhikode
In office 1989–1996
Preceded by	K. G. Adiyodi
Succeeded by	M. P. Veerendra Kumar
Constituency	Kozhikode
Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly
In office 2011 (2011)–2019 (2019)
Succeeded by	V. K. Prasanth
Constituency	Vattiyoorkavu
President, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee
In office 2001 (2001)–2004 (2004)
Preceded by	Thennala Balakrishna Pillai
Succeeded by	P. P. Thankachan
Chairman KPCC Election Campaign Committee
In office 2018 (2018)–incumbent (incumbent)
Personal details
Born	(1957-05-14) 14 May 1957 Thrissur, Kerala, India
Political party	Indian National Congress (1980s–2005) (2011–Present)
Other political affiliations	Nationalist Congress Party (2005–2011)
Spouse	Jyothi Muraleedharan
Relations	Padmaja Venugopal
Children	2
Parents	K. Karunakaran Kalyanikutty Amma
Alma mater	Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram (Bachelor of Arts) The Kerala Law Academy Law College, Thiruvananthapuram (Bachelor of Laws)
Occupation	Politician Lawyer Social worker

Kannoth Muraleedharan (born 14 May 1957) is an Indian National Congress politician. He was the MP from Vatakara, Kerala. He lost the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Thrissur constituency. He is the son of Congress leader K. Karunakaran. He was elected as an MP from Kozhikode constituency (1989, 1991, 1999) and from Vatakara constituency (2019). He was elected as an MLA (2011, 2016) from Vattiyoorkkavu constituency.

Personal life

Muraleedharan was born to K. Karunakaran and Kalyanikutty Amma in Thrissur, Kerala on 14 May 1957. His younger sister, Padmaja Venugopal, is also a politician. Their family hails from Chirakkal, Kannur. After pursuing BA from Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, he qualified in LLB from The Kerala Law Academy Law College, Thiruvananthapuram.

Muraleedharan is married to Jyothi. They have two sons, Arun Narayanan and Sabari Nath.

Political career

Muraleedharan started his political career within the Congress party as a Seva Dal worker. Thereafter, he held the posts of District chairman and State Chief of Kerala Seva Dal. He was elected as Member of Parliament from the Calicut (Kozhikode) constituency in the General Elections of 1989 by defeating veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader E. K. Imbichi Bava and winning re-election in 1991 by defeating Janata Dal leader M. P. Veerendra Kumar. In the 1996 general election, he lost his seat to M. P. Veerendra Kumar and subsequently failed in Thrissur Loksabha seat in his comeback attempt in the 1998 election, before regaining Kozhikode seat by defeating Janata Dal national leader and former Union Minister C. M. Ibrahim in 1999. Thereafter, he held the roles of General secretary, Vice-President of Kerala Congress Committee (KPCC) and became the President of KPCC during 2001–2004.

In February 2004, Muraleedharan was appointed Minister of Power in the A. K. Antony Ministry, though he was not a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. He was required to win a seat within six months to continue as the minister but lost in by-election from Wadakkancherry. Subsequently, he resigned in May that year. He is the only state Minister who was never MLA and never faced the legislative assembly.

In 2005, when the Karunakaran faction of the Indian National Congress party had differences with the party leadership and the United Democratic Front (UDF), some members of the party quit and formed another party named Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) (DIC(K)). They allied with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for the local panchayat elections of 2005 and had some success.

However, for the Kerala Assembly elections of 2006, DIC(K) made a pact with UDF as LDF declined to make any electoral arrangements with DIC(K). DIC(K) contested in 17 constituencies but managed to get elected only from one seat mostly because of grassroots level cross-voting by Congress. Muralidharan lost the election in Koduvally constituency to P.T.A. Rahim.

With the future of the DIC(K) party untenable, some party members of the DIC(K) returned to the Congress party whilst others, including Karunakaran and Muraleedharan, decided instead to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Later, Karunakaran rejoined the Congress party, while his son Muraleedharan opted to stay with the NCP, decrying his father's "betrayal". Muraleedharan contested the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from the Wayanad constituency under the NCP ticket, but came only in third place, behind the Congress party and the CPI.

In August 2009, he was expelled from the NCP and sacked as state chief of the party, as he openly expressed his desire to rejoin the Congress party. He was subsequently refused re-entry into the Congress party, the party leadership stating that the disparaging comments he had made about the party leadership whilst in opposition were too big a barrier to his re-joining. Muraleedharan pledged that he would "wait for any length of time" for the party to change its mind and readmit him, while his father Karunakaran stated that he would take up the matter with the national leadership of the Congress party, if necessary. He was readmitted to the Congress party in February 2011, after his father died, and was given a ticket to contest the Assembly election from the Vattiyurkavu Assembly constituency (former Thiruvananthapuram North Constituency). Subsequently, he won his first assembly election after he defeated ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supported independent candidate Cherian Philip by a margin of over 16,167 votes on 14 May 2011. He was re-elected for the second time in 2016 defeating Kummanam Rajasekharan of Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 7622 votes.

In Indian general election 2019 he has been elected from Vatakara with a tremendous margin by defeating P. Jayarajan of Communist Party of India (Marxist) by a margin of 84663 votes.

In Indian general election 2024 he was a candidate of Indian National Congress party from Thrissur Constituency.

Election candidature history

Election	Year	Party		Constituency	Opponent			Result	Margin
Loksabha	1989		INC	Kozhikode		CPI(M)	E. K. Imbichi Bava	Won	28,957
	1991		INC	Kozhikode		JD(S)	M.P. Veerendra Kumar	Won	15,884
	1996		INC	Kozhikode		JD(S)	M.P. Veerendra Kumar	Lost	38,703
	1998		INC	Thrissur		CPI	V. V. Raghavan	Lost	18,409
	1999		INC	Kozhikode		JD(S)	C. M. Ibrahim	Won	50,402
	2009		NCP	Wayanad		INC	M. I. Shanavas	Lost	311,040
	2019		INC	Vatakara		CPI(M)	P. Jayarajan	Won	84,663
	2024		INC	Thrissur		BJP	Suresh Gopi	Lost	84,214
Kerala Legislative Assembly	2004 (By-election)		INC	Wadakkanchery		CPI(M)	A. C. Moideen	Lost	3,715
	2006		DIC	Koduvally		CPI(M)	P. T. A. Rahim	Lost	7,506
	2011		INC	Vattiyoorkavu		Independent	Cheriyan Phillip	Won	16,167
	2016		INC	Vattiyoorkavu		BJP	Kummanam Rajasekharan	Won	7,622
	2021		INC	Nemom		CPI(M)	V. Sivankutty	Lost	19,313

Positions held

• 1989 – MP Kozhikode– by defeating CPIM leader E. K. Imbichi Bava
• 1991 – MP Kozhikode– by defeating JDS leader M.P. Veerendra Kumar
• 1999 – MP Kozhikode– by defeating JDS leader M.P. Veerendra Kumar
• 2011 – MLA Vattiyoorkavu– by defeating Cherian Philip
• 2016 – MLA Vattiyoorkavu– by defeating BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan
• 2019 – MP from Vatakara – by defeating CPIM leader P. Jayarajan

External links

• K. Muraleedharan on Facebook