When the new United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s 21-member Cabinet, led by V.D. Satheesan, assumed office on Monday (May 18, 2026), one thing which seems to have caused much unhappiness amongst many Congress leaders is the fact that three districts have got no Ministers.

After juggling many permutations and combinations as well as regional considerations, when the UDF finalised its Cabinet members, Kasaragod, Idukki and Pathanamthitta were left with absolutely no Ministerial representation, even though these were all districts where the UDF performed extremely well.

However, some districts like Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kollam have three Ministers each; besides the Chief Minister represent the Paravur constituency in Ernakulam.

Congress MP from Kasaragod Rajmohan Unnithan had openly expressed his anger and disappointment at the “neglect” meted out to Kasaragod, where in the Assembly elections the UDF had pulled off a historic performance. The UDF had won four seats in the district, with major breakthroughs in many constituencies like Thrikkarippur and Uduma, which have been Left bastions for long. Mr. Unnithan had pointed out that Kasaragod had been overlooked in the last Pinarayi government as well and that the district lagged behind others in many areas, including health and infrastructure.

In Idukki, the UDF had a clean sweep, winning all five seats. In Pathanamthitta too, the coalition won four out of the five seats. However, these districts do not find a place in the V.D. Satheesan Cabinet.

Moreover, Kozhikode, another district where the UDF swept the polls, winning 12 out of the 13 seats, will only get representation in the second half of the new government’s term, when Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will resort to a rotation of its senior MLAs.

Workers disappointed

Partyworkers from Kozhikode and Kasaragod, who had gathered in large numbers at the Central Stadium on Monday, were very vocal about their disappointment in not getting Ministers to represent their districts.

In Kozhikode, the Congress won five seats, the IUML, six seats and the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) retained its lone seat.

M.K. Raghavan, Congress MP from Kozhikode, said that he was disappointed that neither the Congress nor the IUML could give a Minister for Kozhikode. Though IUML’s Parakkal Abdullah from Kuttiyadi had been expected to represent Kozhikode in the V.D. Satheesan Cabinet, following the last-minute push for Eranad MLA P.K. Basheer’s inclusion in the Cabinet, the IUML announced that Mr. Abdullah would be brought into the Cabinet on a “term basis,” after two-and-a-half years.