Pinarayi resigns after LDF’s crushing defeat in Kerala

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan resigned after the CPI(M)-led LDF’s heavy poll defeat, handing power to the Congress-led UDF. Asked to continue till a successor is named, his exit ends a decade-long tenure marked by crisis management, controversies, and centralised governance

Thiruvananthapuram: Bringing the curtain down on a defining chapter in Kerala politics, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday night submitted his resignation to Governor Rajendra V. Arlekar, hours after the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) suffered an unprecedented electoral drubbing.

The Governor asked Vijayan to continue till the new Chief Minister assumes office. The LDF was reduced to 35 seats, while the Congress-led UDF won 102 seats, and the BJP three.

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The resignation formally ends a decade-long tenure that saw Vijayan emerge as the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state, straddling two consecutive terms since 2016. His re-election in 2021 had broken Kerala’s long-standing pattern of alternating governments, cementing his position as one of the most formidable leaders in the state’s political history.

Yet, the exit comes on a distinctly sour note. The scale of the defeat marks a historic low for the LDF, raising serious questions about governance, anti-incumbency, and the party’s connect with voters after ten uninterrupted years in power.

Vijayan, who cultivated an image of administrative firmness and centralised decision making, presided over a period marked by both crisis management and controversy from handling successive floods and the pandemic to facing sustained opposition attacks over corruption allegations and governance style.

Even as the LDF begins introspection, attention is now turning to Vijayan’s next political move. With his stature within the party and legislative experience, speculation is rife over whether he will assume the role of Leader of the Opposition in the newly elected Assembly.

For now, the resignation marks not just a routine transfer of power, but the end of an era that reshaped Kerala’s political landscape, one that began with historic promise and concludes with an equally historic setback.

Vijayan’s reversal comes just short of two weeks before he turns 82. In May 2016, just before he took office as Chief Minister, at a press meet, he distributed sweets to the media and asked if anyone knew why this was being done. When no one ventured an answer, he said it was because it is his birthday.