Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala secured a commanding victory in the Haripad constituency, winning by a margin of 23,377 votes against Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate TT Jismon, the Election Commission announced.
Chennithala received 68,184 votes, while Jismon received 44,807 after 15 rounds of counting.
Another United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate, Chandy Oommen, son of former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, won the Puthuppally seat with a margin of 52,907 votes over Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate KM Radhakrishnan. Oommen secured 84,031 votes, compared to Radhakrishnan’s 31,124 votes.
Meanwhile, in Dharmadam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan led Congress candidate VP Abdul Rasheed by 11,800 votes, with 74,476 votes after 13 rounds of counting. Kerala Minister V Sivankutty trailed Tamil Nadu BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar by 1,789 votes in Nemom after 11 rounds.
Early results indicate a significant shift in favour of the UDF, which is on course to return to power in Kerala after a decade. Projections from the Election Commission around 1 pm showed the Congress-led alliance leading in 95 constituencies, while the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF), headed by Chief Minister Vijayan, was ahead in just 36 seats.
The scale of the UDF’s lead has attracted attention despite anticipated anti-incumbency sentiment against the decade-old LDF government. The UDF had demonstrated growing momentum in recent local body elections as well as the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Although many had predicted a UDF comeback in 2021, the LDF secured an unexpected victory at that time. This year, issues including public dissatisfaction and controversies such as the Sabarimala gold theft case may have contributed to the LDF’s decline.
In the 2016 Kerala Assembly elections, the LDF under the CPI(M)’s Pinarayi Vijayan won 91 seats, including 58 for CPI(M) and 19 for CPI. The UDF led by the Indian National Congress won 47 seats, with Congress taking 22 and the Indian Union Muslim League 18. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won one seat.
In 2021, the LDF increased its tally to 99 seats, with CPI(M) taking 62 and CPI 17 seats, marking a historic re-election for Vijayan. The UDF’s seats fell to 41, with Congress winning 21 and the IUML 15. The BJP failed to win any seats despite widespread contesting.
A UDF victory in this election would also signify a generational change in Kerala politics, moving beyond leaders such as K Karunakaran and Oommen Chandy. Leadership is now centred on figures like V D Satheesan, a prominent critic of the LDF government.
Other candidates considered for the Chief Ministerial post include KPCC president Sunny Joseph, known for his organisational role; Ramesh Chennithala, a veteran MLA; and Lok Sabha member K C Venugopal, whose closeness to central party leadership may be advantageous.
The projection further emphasises the BJP’s persistent difficulties in Kerala, as it led in only three constituencies according to Election Commission data around 1 pm.
Counting began at 8 am across 823 constituencies in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry. The procedure started with postal ballots, followed by counting of Electronic Voting Machines from 8:30 am, and results were updated in real time on the ECINET platform and the Election Commission’s official website.