Kerala Assembly Election 2026: Congress close to finalising candidates

New Delhi: Congress has almost finalised candidates for about 60 of the around 85-90 seats it will be contesting in Kerala, with all but two sitting MLAs and contestants who lost in narrow margins five years ago finding place in the yet-to-be announced list.

Sources said the leadership is awaiting the announcement of the Assembly election schedule, which may come any time after March 10, with 20 sitting MLAs and 40 others starting preparatory campaign work.

With little clarity on the schedule, sources said the candidates have not started the voter reach-out initiatives in a big way as sustaining a long campaign would be difficult owing to financial constraints. Also, the leaders do not want candidates to face internal rebellion owing to prior announcement of the list.

A senior leader said an early start to the campaign could also lead to “fatigue” and they wanted to avoid it. At the same time, the potential candidates have started meeting prominent community and other influencers in their respective constituencies besides holding small meetings with family groups.

Usually, the deliberations stretch to the last minute but this time, state leaders took a conscious decision to arrive at a consensus in Kerala itself before touching base with the central leadership with their preliminary list. This has led to aspirants not camping in Delhi to lobby for a party ticket.

As many as 20 of the 22 MLAs, who won under Congress ticket will once again fight. With their Tripunithura MLA K Babu announcing retirement from electoral politics and Palakkad MLA Rahul Mankoottathil expelled from party following sexual assault charges, the Congress will be finding new candidates there.

Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan will contest again from North Paravoor while former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala – both are Chief Ministerial aspirants – will fight from Haripad. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph will recontest from Peravur where he is likely to face CPI(M)’s popular face K K Shailaja, who will be shifting from her sitting seat Mattannur.

Though some MPs have evinced interest in fighting the Assembly polls, the leadership is averse to the idea, as it would lead to bypolls and Congress does not want to play with the numbers in Lok Sabha at this point. Some Kerala leaders are pointing to Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi being chosen to fight Assam Assembly but leadership say it is “not an exception but a necessity” as he was given the assignment to lead the party in the state for sometime.

In the 2021 elections, the Congress had fought 93 seats while leaving 47 seats to their allies, including Indian Union Muslim League. Senior Congress leaders said this time the party may contest 85-90 seats, as it is likely to accommodate independents from social groups like Sunny M Kapikkadu, a Dalit intellectual with the support of over 50 Dalit organisations. The Congress is also likely to field a popular cine artist -- Ramesh Pisharody -- in Palakkad.

A final call on the number of seats allies will be fighting will be clear once the Satheesan-led ‘Puthuyuga Yatra’ ends. For the Congress, this will be a do-or-die battle, as it has been out of power in the state for the past ten years.