Kerala Assembly polls 2026: PIB booklet on State’s electoral history released ahead of polls

Ahead of the April 9 Assembly polls in Kerala, some of the defining moments from the State’s rich electoral history have been compiled in ‘Vottarivu,’ a compendium on Kerala elections published by the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

V. Palanichamy, Additional Director General (Region), PIB Thiruvananthapuram, released the volume by handing over a copy to Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar here on Monday.

The 201-page election booklet in Malayalam showcases fascinating episodes and nuggets from the earliest legislative bodies in Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar to Kerala’s first Communist Ministry under E.M.S. Namboothiripad and up to the 2021 Assembly elections which saw the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government return for a consecutive second term.

The role played by the Travancore Legislative Council as a pioneering institution of its kind is well known. But how many people know that the Council, formed in 1888, had its first meeting in the Dewan’s room at the Secretariat? Or the significance of the September 1948 elections in Cochin in the matter of adult franchise? The book also carries a brief but interesting chapter on the two Prime Ministers of Travancore—Pattom Thanu Pillai and Paravoor T.K. Narayana Pillai.

Legal battle

Among other things, ‘Vottarivu’ recalls the legal battle that followed the 1991 Assembly polls in the Edakkad constituency. O. Bharathan of the CPI(M) had won the tightly fought battle by a slim margin of 219 votes over the Congress’s K. Sudhakaran. But the result was challenged and the High Court ordered a recount, which resulted in Mr. Sudhakaran being declared the winner. Mr. Bharathan was eventually reinstated through a Supreme Court verdict, albeit towards the end of that Assembly’s term.

The 1957 elections after the formation of the State of Kerala were held to 126 seats (114 constituencies which included 12 two-member ones). Of these, the CPI won 60. The number of voters then stood at 89.13 lakh. The number of constituencies first rose to 140—the present number—during the 1977 elections to the State Assembly. The 1970 elections were special in that three future Chief Ministers of Kerala—A.K. Antony, Oommen Chandy, and Pinarayi Vijayan—were elected to the Assembly for the first time.

‘Vottarivu’ is a handy compendium in that it presents a large collection of electoral data which would be valuable to researchers and journalists covering the elections, Mr. Palanichamy and Mr. Kelkar said. PIB Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Director Athira Thampi also spoke.