Former Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan will be the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. The CPI(M) State committee meeting held on Thursday (May 14, 2026) unanimously elected him as the legislative party leader.

With the move coinciding with the selection of former Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan as the Chief Minister, the development sets the stage once again for the high-voltage political rivalry between the Congress leader and Mr. Vijayan that dominated the Assembly over the last five years.

The State committee meeting, chaired by K. Radhakrishnan, was attended by party general secretary M.A. Baby, state secretary M.V. Govindan, senior leader A. Vijayaraghavan and Mr. Vijayan.

This will be the first time that Mr. Vijayan, a former CPI(M) State secretary, assumes the post of the Leader of the Opposition. The veteran CPI(M) leader had served as Kerala’s Chief Minister for two consecutive terms from 2016 to 2026.

Despite the Left Democratic Front (LDF) suffering a major electoral setback after a decade in power, the CPI(M) leadership decided that Mr. Vijayan himself should lead the Opposition benches in the Assembly. There had been speculation within political circles over who would take up the Opposition leader’s role after the LDF was reduced to 35 seats in the 140-member House.

Former Finance Minister and Kottarakkara MLA-elect K.N. Balagopal was rumoured to be in contention for the post.

The CPI(M)’s decision also comes amid internal discussions within the LDF over the reasons behind the coalition’s electoral defeat. Mr. Baby had recently defended Mr. Vijayan by stating that responsibility for the defeat rested with the collective leadership and not with one individual alone.

Mr. Vijayan, elected from Dharmadam constituency for a third consecutive term, will enter the Assembly for the seventh time in his political career. Though he retained the seat, his winning margin dropped sharply compared to the previous two elections. In 2016, he had won by 36,905 votes, and in 2021 by 50,123 votes. This time, he defeated United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate V. P. Abdul Rasheed by a margin of 19,247 votes after a closely watched contest.