Kerala Assembly Elections 2026: The Left grapples with shifting loyalties

Shifting loyalties is considered commonplace in electoral politics. Yet, long-serving legislators moving to rival political camps and contesting elections is uncommon in the State’s political landscape.

But lately, Kerala has been witnessing precisely that trend: former legislators moving to other parties and ideologies they once fought tooth and nail, both inside and outside the Legislative Assembly, and seeking a mandate under the election symbols of their former opponents.

As many as six former legislators have thus shifted their allegiance to rival camps and are in the fray against their former comrades. While four former Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] legislators ended their ties with the party, two from the Communist Party of India (CPI) left for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp.

Aisha Potty, a three-time CPI(M) MLA from Kottarakara, ended her decades-long association with the party during the third week of January this year. Ms. Potty, who had headed the Kollam district panchayat as the party nominee from 2000 to 2005, had started gravitating away from the CPI(M) around five years ago when the party chose to replace her with K.N. Balagopal, who later went on to become the State Finance Minister, from the Kottarakara Assembly constituency. The Congress was quick to seize the opportunity and field her from the same constituency.

However, that decision left its aftershock in the Congress as R. Resmi, the general secretary of Mahila Congress, who unsuccessfully contested against Mr. Balagopal in the last election, joined the BJP after realising that the Congress would prefer Ms. Potty over her in the 2026 polls. This time, Ms. Resmi, as BJP candidate, will take on Mr. Balagopal and Ms. Potty from the constituency.

S. Rajendran, the CPI(M)’s representative from the Devikulam Assembly constituency in the 2006, 2011, and 2016 elections, joined the BJP in the second week of January. Mr. Rajendran, who was at loggerheads with the party for quite some time, left behind the Marxist ideology and embraced the “nationalist” politics of the BJP. The BJP has dutifully fielded him from the constituency.

Anger in Ambalappuzha

Another stalwart to leave the left camp was former Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran, who was forced to retire from active politics after the party fixed the retirement age as 75 years for its leaders. Mr. Sudhakaran, a four-term legislator, had openly expressed his resentment when he was dropped from the State committee, citing the age criterion, at the State conference of the party held in Ernakulam in 2022.

The Congress has reportedly decided not to put up a candidate in the Ambalappuzha constituency, where Mr. Sudhakaran is set to contest as in Independent in the 2026 polls. However, the BJP has fielded a candidate from the constituency.

Then foe, now friend

Former CPI(M) legislator P.K. Sasi, against whom the Congress had raised serious allegations of sexual misbehaviour, may find a new ally in that party itself following his decision to sever ties with the CPI(M) and to contest as an Independent candidate from Ottappalam. The decision of the United Democratic Front (UDF), of which the Congress is a constituent, will be known shortly.

Two of the CPI’s former legislators, K. Ajith, who represented Vaikom for a decade from 2006, and C.C. Mukunadan, the first-time MLA from Nattika, decided to forgo their communist legacy and find comfort in the saffron camp. Both Mr. Ajith and Mr. Mukundan have been fielded as BJP candidates from the constituencies.

It’s to be seen whether the former legislators would be able to convince the electorate about their newfound affability with their former foes and repeat their electoral performance.