Congress MLA-elect from Pathanapuram, Jyothikumar Chamakkala, who wrested the seat from former Transport Minister and Kerala Congress (B) [KC(B)] leader Ganesh Kumar in the Assembly elections, has challenged the latter to a televised debate.

Mr. Chamakkala’s dare to Mr. Kumar follows the latter’s accusation on his Facebook page that his loss at Pathanapuram, a constituency he had held for the past 25 years, was the result of a “deal” between the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mr. Kumar’s argument about the alleged UDF-BJP “deal” focused on the fact that the candidate fielded by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at Pathanapuram, a representative of the Twenty 20 party, had polled just 7,031 votes.

Mr. Kumar pointed out that the BJP had got 11,700 votes in 2016, which increased to 12,398 votes in 2021. In the 2025 local body polls, the party polled a total of around 23,000 votes in the constituency.

He also questioned the BJP’s decision to field a representative of the Twenty 20 party at Pathanapuram, a constituency where the latter has no roots at all.

Chamakkala’s response

Mr. Chamakkala, speaking to mediapersons, said Mr. Kumar seemed to have lost his mind following his unexpected defeat at Pathanapuram.

Rubbishing the “deal” allegations, he said Mr. Kumar would do better to do the math on where the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) votes and his own went, rather than break his head over where the BJP’s votes had disappeared to.

Mr. Chamakkala said that he had received votes from everyone, including the Left parties as well as the KC(B) and the BJP, which gave him a majority of over 8,000 votes. He claimed that he had personal knowledge that even Mr. Kumar’s own family members had voted for the UDF this time.

“What Ganesh Kumar does not seem to realise is that in the last 10 years, he has lost 15,000 votes in his constituency, while the UDF gained 18,000 votes. I am willing to do the math with him in an open debate on television,” Mr. Chamakkala said.