Congress CEC Clears Around 65 Names For April 9 Kerala Assembly Polls
Party managers said the first list would be out soon, and the UDF will get into an aggressive campaign over the next few days.
Published : March 17, 2026 at 7:12 PM IST
New Delhi: The Central Election Committee (CEC), chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, cleared around 65 names for the coming Kerala assembly elections, paving the way for the first list of nominees. All 140 assembly seats in Kerala will go to the polls on April 9. Results will be declared on May 4.
The Congress plans to contest around 100 of 140 assembly seats in the southern state and will leave the remaining for its UDF allies, including the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph), RSP, and smaller regional parties. The CEC will meet again on March 18 to discuss the remaining names, said party insiders.
“A good number of candidates have been cleared by the CEC, which will soon announce the first list. The main focus was on winnability, but the party high command also considered social engineering and public image of the aspirants before finalising the names. We will give a chance to new faces while retaining the old ones,” All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in charge of Kerala, P.V. Mohan, told ETV Bharat.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) had stunned the United Democratic Front (UDF) by winning a second consecutive term in the 2021 Kerala elections. However, the 10-year anti-incumbency of the LDF and its own preparations have given high hopes to the UDF managers in 2026.
The high hopes have also thrown up a tricky issue before the grand old party, which will now be decided by the high command. Several Congress MPs wish to contest the coming assembly elections riding on positive feedback from the ground, the insiders said. These include Shashi Tharoor and KC Venugopal.
Tharoor represents the Thiruvananthapuram seat in the Lok Sabha and is serving his third term. He is also the co-chairperson of the campaign committee along with veteran Ramesh Chennithala. Venugopal, who is in charge of the AICC organisation, quit the Rajya Sabha in 2024 and got elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alappuzha seat. “That is a matter to be decided by the high command,” said Mohan.
According to party insiders, once the candidate selection is over, the UDF will launch an aggressive campaign to flag the failures of the LDF government headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan while highlighting the key social welfare guarantees announced recently by Rahul Gandhi.
The promises are on the lines made by the high command earlier in Congress-ruled Karnataka and Telangana. Accordingly, senior leaders from the two states will also be called to campaign in Kerala to reassure the voters on the implementation of the promises.
“Besides the social guarantees, we will come out with a detailed roadmap to develop the state over the next five years. Unemployment among the youth certainly is a major issue in the state. The LDF government has created a massive unemployment problem. We will take action on reigniting employment in Kerala. We will support small and medium businesses and, once again, bring employment back to the state. We do not like the fact that millions of people from the state are forced to go abroad for employment,” AICC secretary in charge of Kerala, BM Sandeep, said.
Congress insiders said the party campaign will target both the LDF and the BJP, which is trying to make its presence felt in the southern state. The BJP had won one Lok Sabha seat in 2024 and recently won the mayor's post in Thiruvananthapuram, projecting it as a big victory.
“The LDF and BJP are hand in glove as both want to dent Congress. However, they will not succeed as the people of Kerala believe in social inclusion. The recent event in Kollam to mark the 100 years of the dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Shree Narayan Guru actually reflected the inclusive character of society. The saffron party wants to win by dividing the people. We will not let that happen,” said Sandeep.
Before 2021, power in Kerala had rotated between UDF and LDF every five years. UDF leaders claimed that only 26 days were left for the LDF misrule in the state to end, and the coming assembly results would reflect the trend registered in the Dec 2025 local body elections in which the opposition did well.
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