The government was formed in the aftermath of the collapse of the Nayanar Ministry when the Congress(A) led by former Chief Minister A.K.

The Karunakaran-led ministry was a short-lived coalition government which lasted merely 80 days, with the Speaker having to cast his vote 8 times to save the government as both the treasury benches and the opposition were equally divided.

Eventually the government fell on 17 March 1982 when Lonappan Nambadan, a member of Kerala Congress (M) withdrew his support for the ministry.

The United Democratic Front returned to power under the leadership of K. Karunakaran who completed a full five year term in office.

The table below shows the list of ministers of the Second K. Karunakaran Ministry.