Kerala Assembly polls 2026: With a few hours left for end of public campaign, poll zeal at its peak in Angamaly

As the Kerala Assembly polls approach, campaign fervor peaks in Angamaly, highlighting intense competition between UDF and LDF candidates.

Sunbeams piercing through dense green foliage illuminated the Mookkannoor–Ezhattumugham Road in Angamaly. A sizeable group of Congress workers, draped in tricolour shawls, assembled at Kidangoor Kavala, nearly two-and-a-half kilometres from Karayamparambu, around 8 a.m.

An announcement vehicle, seeking a consecutive third term for incumbent Congress MLA Roji M. John, set the tone for the final lap of the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate’s campaign in Mookkannoor panchayat on Monday (April 6, 2026). As local campaign managers signalled the entourage to get ready, Mr. John took charge of the microphone to launch a scathing attack on what he termed the ‘10-year misrule’ of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala.

“This election is an opportunity to end it, and we are confident that the public will stand with the UDF,” he said, before listing a host of development initiatives, including roads and bridges he has undertaken since 2016. “The Kalady bridge, which received an allocation of ₹42 crore during the Congress-led Oommen Chandy government, is in the final stage of construction,” he added.

He blamed the LDF government for the delay in realising the Angamaly bypass project. “It was among the hollow promises made under the government’s much-hyped Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board [KIIFB],” he alleged.

Saju Paul, Left front candidate in Angamaly, at the Mor Sobore Afroth Jacobite Syrian cathedral in Akaparambu. | Photo Credit: G. Krishnakumar 

Nearly six kilometres away in Akaparambu, three-time Perumbavoor MLA Saju Paul of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] was having a breakfast chat with Geevarghese Areeckal, vicar of the Mor Sobore Afroth Jacobite Syrian Cathedral (Akaparambu Valiya Palli). As they wrapped up the brief interaction, the LDF candidate handed over an election pamphlet and posed for shutterbugs with a smile.