UDF wins Kerala polls: Who are the Congress frontrunners for CM post?

The Congress-led UDF has returned to power in Kerala after 2016. The focus now shifts to who will be the party's CM choice

The United Democratic Front (UDF) has returned to power in Kerala, defeating the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). The Congress-led alliance now faces a bigger question: Who will be its choice for chief minister?

 

The vote counting, which concluded on Monday night, showed that UDF secured 98 out of the total 140 seats. Congress alone bagged 63 seats and emerged as the single largest party. 

 

The UDF did not announce a CM face before entering the polls. The race appears to be among three key candidates: Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan, former state LoP Ramesh Chennithala, and Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. 

 

VD Satheesan

 

 

Satheesan spearheaded the Congress’s election campaign, promising to make the UDF win 100 seats; if not, he said he would “quit politics and go into exile".

 

The Congress-led alliance eventually managed to secure close to 100 seats, cementing Satheeshan’s image as one of the strongest party leaders in the state.  

 

Satheesan, 61, also won from his Paravur constituency for the sixth consecutive term. Hailing from Ernakulam’s Nettoor, Satheeshan has been with Congress since his stint in student politics. He was also one of the national secretaries of the Congress’s student wing, NSUI. 

 

Satheesan has played a major role in reviving Congress in Kerala at the grassroots level, and several party camps also support his candidacy for the next CM of the state.    

 

Ramesh Chennithala

 

Chennithala, a senior Congress leader who served as the Leader of Opposition during outgoing chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s first stint, is also considered a contender for the top post. 

 

He won from the Haripad constituency, defeating Communist Party of India’s (CPI’s) TT Simson by a margin of 23,377 votes. 

 

Close to the party high command in Delhi, Chennithala was the Congress’s CM face in the last state elections.

 

This time, Chennithala started a podcast titled 'Kerala yatra' to push his vision of development and strengthen his position as a leading contender for the CM’s post. 

 

KC Venugopal

 

Venugopal is a Member of Parliament representing Kerala’s Alappuzha constituency and is considered close to the party high command.

 

While his name is also doing the rounds for Kerala’s CM post, Venugopal had earlier said, “I am not interested in the debates. Let the result come. There is a process. Wait till the counting of votes.”

 

He is also reportedly backed by several Congress MLA candidates who contested the elections. 

 

However, Venugopal has not contested the assembly elections this time. If the Congress-led UDF chooses him to be the state’s next CM, the party will ask an MLA to resign so that Venugopal can contest a seat in the Assembly. He will also have to resign from the Lok Sabha, a move that will lead to bye-elections in the Alappuzha constituency.