Kerala Assembly Elections 2026: The Congress party on Tuesday, released its first list of candidates for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, announcing candidates for 55 of the 92 seats it has planned to contest.
Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan has been nominated from Paravur, while senior leader Ramesh Chennithala will contest from Haripad.
Constituencies where discussions are still ongoing have been left out in this phase, reported news wire PTI.
Key seats such as Aranmula and Chengannur have not been included in the first list by the Congress party.
Earlier, CPI(M) released its list of 81 candidates – with CM Vijayan set to seek his mandate from his sitting seat Dharmadam assembly segment in northern Kannur district
Kerala Assembly Elections 2026
Assembly Elections are due in Kerala on 9 April – with vote counting scheduled for 4 May.
Polls are also set to be held for 294 seats in West Bengal, 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, 126 seats in Assam and 30 seats in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Congress has nominated whom from which seat?
Congress’ candidate list – cleared by the party’s Central Election Committee – includes 19 sitting MLAs and reflects a mix of senior leaders, organizational figures and new faces.
In Kannur district, the grand old party has fielded KPCC Chief Sunny Joseph from Peravoor. Senior leader K Muraleedharan will contest from Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram district, while former MP TN Prathapan has been nominated from Manalur.
Youth Congress state president OJ Janeesh has been fielded from Kodungallur.
Malappuram DCC president VS Joy will contest from Thavanur, while Palakkad DCC president T Thankappan has been nominated from Nenmara.
Actor Ramesh Pisharody has been fielded from Palakkad. This seat had earlier been won by Rahul Mamkootathil, who was later expelled from the party following a sexual harassment case.
Several sitting MLAs have been nominated, including Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan (Kottayam), Anwar Sadath (Aluva) and Roji M John (Angamaly).
In Puthuppally, Chandy Oommen has been nominated after his bypoll victory from the constituency.
Who are the women candidates?
Among women candidates, Uma Thomas (Thrikkakara), Shanimol Usman (Aroor), Bindhu Krishna (Kollam) and Ramya Haridas (Chirayinkeezhu-SC) have been included.
The party has also announced candidates in several reserved constituencies, including Mananthavady (ST), Sulthanbathery (ST), Balusseri (SC), Wandoor (SC) and Nattika (SC).
New faces in the list include KM Abhijith (Nadapuram) and K Praveen Kumar (Quilandy). Aryadan Shoukath, who won the Nilambur bypoll, has been renominated from the key seat.
