Exactly a year after Rahul Mamkootathil was sworn in as an MLA, the Congress expelled him from the party, minutes after the Principal Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram refused him anticipatory bail in one of the two rape cases registered against him.
Published Dec 05, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 05, 2025 | 7:00 AM
Rahul Mamkootathil addressing the media during the Palakkad bypoll campaign in 2024.
Synopsis: Rahul Mamkootathil’s political ascent has been nothing short of dramatic; a leap powered by sharp oratory skills, strategic positioning, and the confidence of the Congress leadership, who saw in him a future leader. His downfall was equally spectacular.
In Kerala’s political calendar, a few days have held both a coronation and a collapse.
Exactly a year ago, 4 December 2024 was a moment of triumph for the Congress in Kerala.
Rahul Mamkootathil — the 34-year-old Youth Congress’s state chief who swept Palakkad with a massive margin — took oath as a first-time MLA, symbolising the rise of a new-generation leader in the UDF.
But the celebration barely lasted.
In the days that followed, one revelation after another sent his political flight crashing. And in a stunning twist of fate, Mamkootathil was expelled from the very party that had hailed his victory — on the same day — 4 December — a year after he had stepped into the Assembly as its newest member.
Related: Congress finally expels fugitive Kerala MLA Rahul Mamkootathil
Mamkootathil’s political ascent has been nothing short of dramatic; a leap powered by sharp oratory skills, strategic positioning, and the confidence of the Congress leadership, who saw in him a future leader.
Rahul Mamkootathil (right) and Shafi Parambil.
His journey began in the corridors of campus politics.
In 2016, Mamkootathil became the state general secretary of the Kerala Students Union (KSU), marking his arrival as a promising organiser within the Congress’s student wing.
A year later, he moved to the national stage as secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), widening his exposure and influence.
Returning to Kerala’s organisational leadership, Mamkootathil was soon elevated as state general secretary of the Youth Congress.
It was during this period that he transformed into a fiery political presence, impressing senior leaders with his combative style and quick grasp of issues. Television viewers across the state began recognising him as the face of the party on prime-time debates: sharp, sarcastic, and daring to take on political opponents.
His rise continued in November 2023 when he was elected president of the Kerala Youth Congress.
By then, Mamkootathil had cemented his image as an outspoken critic of the CPI(M), particularly Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Rahul Mamkootathil taking oath as an MLA at the R Sankaranarayanan Thampi Members’ Lounge in the Kerala Assembly complex on 4 December 2024.
Within the Congress, he was firmly identified with the A group and seen as a close confidant of then Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil, under whom he had earlier served as Youth Congress general secretary. Parambil was then the state president.
The turning point came ahead of the 2024 General Election.
With the party deciding to field Parambil from Vadakara — a contest in which he defeated former health minister KK Shailaja, the ‘rock star’ in Kerala’s fight against Covid-19 — the question of who would contest from Palakkad opened a new chapter for Mamkootathil.
Backed by Parambil and leaders like VD Satheesan, he secured the ticket, despite resistance within the district unit. The state leadership, however, stood by him.
On 23 November 2024, Mamkootathil justified the leadership’s trust. He registered a thumping victory in Palakkad with a margin of 18,724 votes — surpassing even Parambil’s previous margin of 17,483 votes.
Barely days later, on 4 December, Mamkootathil was sworn in as a member of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly, marking his transition from an organisational dynamo to an elected lawmaker.
The faster the elevation, the faster — and harder — came the fall.
Rahul Mamkootathil (right) with VD Satheesan (centre) and Shafi Parambil
Few examples in contemporary Kerala politics embody this adage as starkly as the meteoric rise — and even more dramatic crash.
When Mamkootathil was elected to lead the Youth Congress in Kerala, he was already battling a high-profile criminal case.
The allegation was serious: that he had been involved in the digital counterfeiting of Election Commission of India (ECI) voter identity cards — purportedly to validate “phoney electors” in the organisation’s online internal elections. The Crime Branch is currently probing the case.
Now, it has become clear that long before he took the MLA post, red flags had been raised.
During his tenure as general secretary, several women had reportedly approached the then Youth Congress state president, Parambil, with complaints that Mamkootathil was behaving inappropriately.
But those concerns, sources say, were quietly brushed aside. Even when Mamkootathil was handpicked as the Congress candidate for the Palakkad bypoll, the allegations resurfaced.
Within the leadership, uncomfortable questions were raised again — and once more, the party looked the other way.
In August, the unravelling began.
What started as a couple of misconduct allegations quickly escalated into charges of sexual abuse.
Forced to step down as Youth Congress president, allegations overshadowed Mamkootathil’s political fortunes.
The Congress soon suspended him from the party’s primary membership as well as the parliamentary party. And as each day brought more serious accusations, the leadership had little option left.
On 4 December 2025, Mamkootathil was expelled from the party.
Within the Congress, serious questions are now being raised over whether the party leadership misread Mamkootathil—or worse, knowingly overlooked the red flags—before fielding him as a candidate.
Two concerns dominate internal discussions.
First, did the leadership fail to conduct a thorough assessment before offering him a ticket?
Second, has the party squandered a golden opportunity to project itself as being different from the CPI(M) and the BJP when it comes to dealing with allegations of sexual assault?
A senior leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not hold himself back.
“We can’t buy the argument that the party misread Mamkootathil. They were likely well aware of his predatory instincts, yet he was still accommodated,” the leader said. “He could have been expelled much earlier—at least a couple of days ago. But that didn’t happen.”
KPCC president Joseph had earlier highlighted that the party took immediate steps—such as suspending Mamkootathil’s primary membership—when the first allegation surfaced.
But critics within the party insist this was not enough.
They argue that the leadership should have acted proactively, especially after the second complaint emerged.
Instead, the expulsion was repeatedly delayed and came only after the court rejected Mamkootathil’s anticipatory bail plea.
“It seems the party missed a golden opportunity,” the senior leader added. “We fear that the allegations against the MLA may have a lasting impact, and the damage control should have begun much earlier.”
The political fallout was evident on Thursday, with the KPCC president himself finally acknowledging that the Mamkootathil episode had dented the party’s public image.
With the local body polls less than a week away, the Congress finds itself racing against time to contain the political tremors triggered by the allegations against Mamkootathil.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala (Supplied)
While senior leaders like Joseph and Ramesh Chennithala insist that “Rahul is a closed chapter” and that he will now be “on his own,” there is an unmistakable anxiety within the party: the impact could outlive the polls and unsettle their political calculus in the longer term.
To blunt the narrative damage, the Congress has opened a new flank—drawing sharp contrasts between its own handling of complaints and the CPI(M)’s track record in similar cases, including PK Sasi and sitting MLA M Mukesh, to accuse the party of running its own opaque “party courts” instead of allowing legal scrutiny.
Chennithala, speaking to the media, framed the party’s defence squarely on procedure and transparency.
“The KPCC president received a complaint and immediately forwarded it to the State Police Chief. That is the legal procedure. We have followed it. Now look at the CPI(M)—count the harassment complaints they’ve received and ignored. That itself will make a Guinness record,” he said, alleging that the Left routinely shields perpetrators and sidelines victims.
“Has the CPI(M) taken strong action in any of these cases? How many complaints have been buried by committees measuring ‘severity’?” he asked.
VD Satheesan, the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly. (Sourced)
Leader of Opposition Satheesan sharpened the attack further, pointing directly at a CPI(M) MLA accused in a rape case.
“The accused is still sitting as MLA. Ask them about that. The same leaders who removed area secretaries over women’s complaints in Alappuzha have now fielded them as candidates. The CPI(M) wanted this issue to drag on until the polls to overshadow Sabarimala gold looting and public anger against the government,” he said.
Satheesan called the Congress’s decision “a model for all political parties,” adding: “We are not protecting anyone. Are they [CPI(M)] ready to hand over the complaints they have suppressed for years to the police?”
Mamkootathil’s meteoric rise and undignified fall may have played out within a single date, albeit a year apart, but its aftershocks will linger far longer.
For the Congress, the narrative fight has only just begun.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
