Kerala Assembly poll: Deciphering the Malabar mandate

North Kerala, comprising the seven districts from Kasaragod to Thrissur, has perhaps changed the electoral map in the 2026 Assembly polls, where a Malabar wave has not only unseated a government but effectively rewritten the rules of future political engagement in the State.

Once the engine room of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front’s victory in 2021, this 73-seat belt has transformed into the launchpad for a Congress-led United Democratic Front’s resurgence that has rattled the very foundations of Left politics. Five years ago, the LDF held a commanding 50 seats in this region. That number has now dwindled to a mere dozen.