Counting of votes in the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections began on May 4 with postal ballots first, and early trends showed the Congress-led United Democratic Front ahead as the state waited for results from 140 constituencies.
The strongrooms where the electronic voting machines were kept were opened at around 6.30 am in the presence of Election Commission observers, security personnel and representatives of candidates. Kerala had 140 counting centres across 43 locations on Monday for votes polled in the April 9 election, and voter turnout stood at 79.63% after the postal ballots were added in.
The opening of the count came after a tight campaign in which the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front fought a high-voltage battle across the state. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance also remained a strong contender in several key segments, adding to the pressure on counting day.
In the first minutes of counting, tension flared at a strongroom in the Cochin University of Science and Technology campus in Kalamassery after the key to the facility holding the EVMs for the Kalamassery assembly constituency went missing. Officials were forced to break open the strongroom around 8.30 am. An official later said everything was going smoothly.
The episode briefly underscored how much rested on the integrity of a process that covers all 140 seats and had already drawn intense attention from parties watching every lead and every delay. For the UDF, the early advantage offered a lift, but the final picture still depended on the count moving cleanly through the day.
