Thottathil Ravindran is one of the senior most and popular leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kozhikode. He joined the party in 1968. Currently, he is a member of the CPI(M) Bilathikulam local committee and a member of Kerala Karshaka Sangham Kozhikode North area committee.

Known for his clean image, Ravindran was the first mayor to complete the full five-year term in office (2000–2005) since the formation of the Kozhikode Corporation in 1962. He also had a stint as Deputy Mayor during the 1995–2000 period and for a brief term of one month as Mayor in-charge in 1998. Kozhikode Corporation won the state government's Swaraj trophy for the best corporation in the state during his first reign as the mayor of the city. In 2016 again, he was elected as the Mayor of Kozhikode Municipal Corporation. Corporation's EMS Stadium, Kudumbashree waste management Project, She Lodge, ABC Center for the Sterilization of Stray Dogs at Poolakkadavu, implementation of corporation's online system for building construction related services, Kalluthankadavu flat construction, escalator cum foot overbridge near the Moffusal bus stand etc.are some of the notable projects completed by the Kozhikode Corporation during the reign of Thottathil Ravindran.^[2]

Ravindran was also the chairman of Guruvayur Devaswom Board from 2007 to 2011. It was during his time the management changed the centuries-old dress code, allowing women to wear churidars to enter the Guruvayur Temple.^[3]

In 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election he has been elected from Kozhikode North (State Assembly constituency) with a margin of 12,928 votes.

Thottathil Ravindran was born on 14 April 1947, in Kozhikode as the youngest son of M.C Appukutti Nair and Thottathil Janaki Amma.

He is married to Valsala and has two children, Vishnu and Lakshmi. His wife is a retired teacher.^{[citation needed]}