Kerala Assembly Elections 2026: Poll wins of 6 more MLAs challenged before Kerala High Court

Petitions have been filed before the Kerala High Court challenging the election victories of six Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in the 2026 Kerala Assembly Elections.

The elections of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President Rajeev Chandrashekhar, BJP leader V Muraleedharan, CPI(M)’s C Ravindranath and NK Akbar and Congress MLAs Rajan J Pallan and Reji Cheriyan have been challenged.

The petitions, which accuse the victorious candidates of having engaged in corrupt practices during their election campaigns, were listed before various Benches on Friday.

Since defects were flagged in the petitions, the Court has mostly given time for such defects to be cured and adjourned the cases for hearings from next week onwards.

The petition challenging the election win of MLA Rajeev Chandrashekhar from the Nemom constitutency has been filed by Congress leader KS Sabarinadhan. Chandrashekhar had won the seat by defeating CPI (M)'s V Sivankutty by 4,978 votes.

The matter was heard by Justice Ziyad Rahman AA today, who has listed it next on August 18.

The petition challenging the election of CPI(M) MLA C Ravindranath, who won from the Manalur constituency by a slender margin of 126 votes, was also listed before Justice Rahman.

This petition has been filed by former MP and Congress leader TN Prathapan. This case is also scheduled to be heard next on August 18.

The petition filed against BJP leader Muraleedharan's poll victory from the Kazhakkoottam constituency was listed before Justice Harisankar V Menon.

The election petition against Muraleedharan has been filed by CPI(M) leader and former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

Surendran lost to Muraleedharan by a margin of 428 votes. Surendran has accused Muraleedharan of committing corrupt practices during his election campaign and promoting enmity between the Hindu and Muslim communities. The Court has listed the case next on August 4.

Justice Menon also briefly considered the petition filed by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader Abdul Rasheed CH, challenging the election of CPI(M) MLA NK Akbar, who won from the Guruvayur constituency by 1,998 votes.

The matter is likely to be listed in the second week of August.

The election petition challenging the poll win of Congress's Rajan J Pallan from the Thrissur constituency was listed before another Bench comprising Justice Murali Purishothaman.

Meanwhile, a petition challenging the victory of Congress MLA Reji Cheriyan from the Kuttanad constituency was heard by Justice PV Balakrishnan.

This petition has been filed by independent candidate Jaisappan Mathai.

The Court has sought Cheriyan's response on the petition and posted the matter next on August 20.

The election of MLA V Kunhikrishnan, an independent candidate and expelled CPI (M) member who won from the Payyannur constitutency, has also been challenged before the High Court.

Kunhikrishnan had contested the 2026 polls as an independent candidate backed by the UDF and defeated sitting CPI(M) MLA TI Madhusoodanan by 7,487 votes, ending the CPI(M)'s uninterrupted hold over the Payyannur constituency since 1967.

Madhusoodhan has now challenged Kunhikrishnan's poll victory.

Justice G Girish briefly considered the matter yesterday and sought Kunhikrishnan's response. This case is listed next on September 8.