Former Union Minister and BJP candidate V Muraleedharan defeated sitting MLA and former Kerala minister Kadakampally Surendran of CPI(M) by a narrow margin of 428 votes to win from Kazhakoottam constituency in the Assembly polls. Muraleedharan, who had lost the seat to Surendran in the 2016 Assembly polls by 7,347 votes, secured 46,564 votes. BJP won three seats in Kerala.