1980 Indian general election in Kerala

The 1980 Parliamentary Election was a mid-term election held following the collapse of the Janata Party led governments led by Prime Ministers Morarji Desai and Charan Singh. It was also the first election that the Indian National Congress fought from the opposition. The party had suffered a split, with the faction led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Indian National Congress (Indira)) asserting its electoral popularity by winning 353 seats and forming a majority government of its own..

1980 Indian general election

← 1977 January 1980 1984 →
20 seats
First party Second party   Leader E. K. Nayanar K. Karunakaran Party CPI(M) INC Alliance LDF UDF Leader's seat - - Last election 0 20 Seats won 12 8 Seat change 12 12
Prime Minister before election Charan Singh JP(S) Prime Minister after election Indira Gandhi INC

This was the first election fought in Kerala since the two coalitions, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) came into existence. These elections were held in the backdrop of growing political instability in Kerala. The previous Legislative Assembly (1977-79) had seen four Chief Ministers come to power- K. Karunakaran, A.K. Antony, P. K. Vasudevan Nair and C. H. Mohammed Koya, The Communist Party of India, the INC (U) and KC (Mani) split off from the United Front coalition led by the Indian National Congress to form the LDF, a coalition with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the principle opposition party in Kerala. On the other hand, the INC (I) along with the Indian Union Muslim League, KC (Joseph) and the Janata Party formed the primary components of the UDF.

The LDF registered a comfortable victory over the UDF by winning 12 seats over the 8 seats bagged by the latter. In the assembly election held a fortnight later, the LDF came to power with senior CPI(M) leader E. K. Nayanar assuming the office of Chief Minister.

Parties and alliances

Left Democratic Front

No.	Party	Election Symbol	Seats contested
1.	Communist Party of India (Marxist)		8
2.	Indian National Congress (Urs)		6
3.	Communist Party of India		2
4.	Kerala Congress		2
5.	Revolutionary Socialist Party		1
6.	All India Muslim League		1

United Democratic Front

No.	Party	Election Symbol	Seats contested
1.	Indian National Congress		11
2.	Indian Union Muslim League		2
3.	Janata Party		3
4.	Independent		4

List of Candidates

Constituency
		LDF			UDF
1	Kasaragod		CPI(M)	Ramanna Rai		JP	O. Rajagopal
2	Cannanore		INC(U)	Kandalottu Kunhambu		INC(I)	N. Ramakrishnan
3	Badagara		INC(U)	K. P. Unnikrishnan		INC(I)	Mullappally Ramachandran
4	Calicut		CPI(M)	E. K. Imbichi Bava		JP	Arangil Sreedharan
5	Manjeri		AIML	K. Moideenkutty Haji (Bava Haji)		IUML	Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait
6	Ponnani		INC(U)	Aryadan Muhammed		IUML	Banatwala Gulam Mehmood
7	Palghat		CPI(M)	T. Sivadasa Menon		INC(I)	V. S. Vijaya Raghavan
8	Ottapalam (SC)		CPI(M)	A. K. Balan		INC(I)	Vella Eacharan
9	Trichur		CPI(M)	K. A. Rajan		INC(I)	P. P. George
10	Mukundapuram		CPI(M)	E. Balanandan		Ind.	C. G. Kumaran
11	Ernakulam		INC(U)	Henry Austin		INC(I)	Xavier Varghese Arakal
12	Muvattupuzha		KEC	George J. Mathew		Ind.	George Joseph (Baby Mundackal)
13	Kottayam		KEC	Skaria Thomas		INC(I)	K. M. Chandy
14	Idukki		CPI(M)	M. M. Lawrence		Ind.	T. S. John
15	Alleppey		CPI(M)	Susheela Gopalan		JP	Omana Pillai
16	Mavelikara		INC(U)	P. J. Kurien		Ind.	Thevally Madhavan Pillai
17	Adoor (SC)		CPI	P. K. Kodiyan		INC(I)	R. Achuthan
18	Quilon		RSP	N. Sreekantan Nair		INC(I)	B. K. Nair
19	Chirayinkil		INC(U)	Vayalar Ravi		INC(I)	A. A. Rahim
20	Trivandrum		CPI	M. N. Govindan Nair		INC(I)	Neelalohithadasan Nadar

Results

No.	Party	Seats won	Seats contested	Votes	Voteshare
Left Democratic Front (LDF)
1	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	7	8	17,54,387	21.5%
2	Indian National Congress (Urs)	3	6	12,94,480	15.8%
3	Communist Party of India	1	2	3,37,194	4.1%
4	Kerala Congress	1	2	3,56,997	4.4%
5	All India Muslim League	0	1	1,96,820	2.4%
6	Revolutionary Socialist Party	0	1	1,85,562	2.3%
Total	LDF	12	20	41,25,440	50.5%
United Democratic Front (UDF)
1	Indian National Congress (Indira)	5	11	21,50,186	26.3%
2	Indian Union Muslim League	2	2	4,54,235	5.6%
3	Independents-	1	4	6,76,164	8.2%
4	Janata Party	0	3	5,22,321	6.3%
Total	UDF	8	20	38,02,906	46.4%

1. LDF (50.5%)
2. UDF (46.4%)
3. Other (3.10%)