He is a member of the Indian National Congress and on 16 May 2009, in the first election held in this newly apportioned district, he was elected as a United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate by 408,232 votes over K. Ananthagopan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 297,026; B. Radhakrishna Menon of the Bharatiya Janata Party with 56,294 and three other candidates.