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Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced on Sunday that it will contest 86 seats in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, which will be held in a single phase on April 9.
CPI(M) State Secretary MV Govindan announced that the party will contest 86 seats in the upcoming elections, with 56 sitting MLAs seeking re-election. "CPI(M) will contest in 86 seats. 56 sitting MLAs will contest again. The Politburo meeting decided that one member from the Politburo should contest in the election. PB member and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will contest in the election. CPI(M) candidates were selected in a completely democratic manner," Govindan said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will contest from his current Dharmadam seat in northern Kannur district, and senior leader and former Health Minister KK Shailaja will contest from the Peravoor constituency in Kannur. The 2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, the Election Commission of India announced today, with the counting of votes scheduled to take place on May 4. The Model Code of Conduct comes into place from today, setting in process elections to the 140-member State Assembly, which is also known as the Kerala Niyamasabha. The tenure of the current assembly is scheduled to end on May 23. The last date for filing nominations is March 23, with scrutiny of nominations on March 24 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures on March 26. Following the completion ennumeration excercise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state electoral roll, the ECI released Kerala's final voter list on February 21. According to the Kerala CEO, the revision was conducted with January 1 as the qualifying date, and a total of 2,69,53,644 voters were registered in the state through the process. The final voter list comprises 1,31,26,048 male voters, 1,38,27,319 female voters, and 227 third-gender voters. Within this total, 4,24,518 voters belong to the younger electorate of the 18-19 age group. The Kerala CEO further mentioned that around 53,229 individuals have been deleted from the voters' list. The process of SIR was conducted from November 11, 2025, to January 30, 2026. The main electoral contest in the State is expected between the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Indian National Congress. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is also in the fray for the Assembly polls. (ANI)
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