Kerala is in full election mode, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing April 9 as the date for the 2026 elections to the State Legislative Assembly.

The polled votes will be counted on May 4.

Of the 140 Assembly constituencies in Kerala, 14 are reserved for the Scheduled Caste communities and two for Scheduled Tribes.

Kerala will have 30,471 polling stations for the 2026 Assembly elections. Of these, 6,130 are in the urban areas and 24,341 in the rural areas.

Kerala’s political landscape is heating up as the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) aims to overcome anti-incumbency and internal dissent to secure a rare third consecutive term in power.

The United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Congress and out of power for a decade, faces high stakes but is buoyed by a strong performance in the 2025 local body polls.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is looking to build on its 2024 Lok Sabha gains and local governance foothold in Thiruvananthapuram, aiming to disrupt Kerala’s traditional LDF-UDF power cycle and re-establish its presence in the Assembly.