Congress names VD Satheesan as Kerala Chief Minister

14 May 2026, 07:06 by Abhilasha · KalingaTV

New-Delhi: VD Satheesan, senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, has been named by the Congress as the next Chief Minister of Kerala.

The announcement was made ten days after the results of the Kerala Assembly elections were declared.

The three main contenders for the post of chief minister were Satheesan, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, and Ramesh Chennithala.

Satheesan served as the Leader of Opposition in Keralam Assembly before the UDF’s decisive victory in the 2026 Keralam Assembly elections. The alliance won 102 seats in the 140-member assembly.

As the next Keralam CM is announced, the Congress Keralam Committee will meet Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar today and stake claim to form the government.

Satheesan won the 2026 Kerala Assembly election from the Paravur constituency, securing his sixth consecutive term as an MLA.

Satheesan secured 78,658 votes and defeated CPI candidate ET Taison Master by a margin of 20,600 votes. He has represented the Paravur constituency for 25 years, having first won the seat in 2001.

As the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly since 2021, Satheesan emerged as a prominent face of the United Democratic Front (UDF) campaign against the ruling Left government. He has been a vocal critic of the state government on various political and governance issues.

He also served as the Vice President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and succeeded Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala as the Leader of the Opposition after the 2021 Kerala Assembly election.

Born in 1964 in Nettoor near Kochi, Satheesan is a lawyer by profession. He began his political journey through the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and later became active in the Youth Congress.