Kerala’s incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan won the Dharmadam constituency defeating his nearest rival, the Congress’ VP Abdul Rasheed by more than 19,000 votes, even as his government will likely not return for a third consecutive term in the state.

At one point during the day, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader had been trailing the Congress candidate.

At the state level, the Congress-led United Democratic Front was ahead in 89 seats while the ruling Left Democratic Front was ahead in 35, data from the Election Commission showed at 5.40 pm.

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A party or an alliance needs 71 seats in the 140-member Assembly to secure a majority.

At least 13 of the 21 ministers in the state had suffered a loss in their respective constituencies.

These include Veena George (Aranmula), MB Rajesh (Thrithala), R Bindu (Irinjalakuda), J Chinchurani (Chadayamangalam), P Rajeeve (Kalamassery), KB Ganesh Kumar (Pathanapuram), and Roshy Augustine (Idukki).

Follow the Kerala Assembly elections result here.

The counting began at 8 am. More than 880 candidates are contesting the polls. The polling in all 140 seats was held on April 9. A turnout of 79.6% was recorded.

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Several exit polls have forecast that the Congress-led alliance would win the polls.

The polls were held against the backdrop of the Election Commission having carried out a special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories, including Kerala.

More than eight lakh were removed from the electoral rolls in Kerala during the revision process, which began in November.

In 2021, the LDF had broken a 44-year trend of incumbents losing power. The alliance picked up 99 seats in the 140-member Assembly. The UDF had won 41.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections here.