Who Is VD Satheesan? Congress Leader and Long-Time Paravur MLA To Be Next Kerala CM

VD Satheesan, six-time Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, is set to take oath as Kerala Chief Minister, confirmed by Kerala Congress in-charge Deepa Das Munshi on Thursday, May 14. 

The announcement was made days after a discussion among the prominent names of KC Venugopal, Satheesan, and senior party leader Chennithala, being considered for the chief minister's post after the Kerala Assembly elections results.

#BREAKING

Congress party names VD Satheesan as CLP leader. He is new Chief Minister of Keralam

Celebrations have begun at Satheesan's residence in Thiruvananthapuram

VD Satheesan had reportedly said that he would retire from politics if not made CM pic.twitter.com/LT0305U2SK

— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) May 14, 2026

Satheesan's hard work behind the UDF campaign for the recently concluded Kerala Assembly election has paid off, in which the front won 102 of the 140 seats. Satheesan won the election from the North Paravoor constituency in Ernakulam district.

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UDF won 102 seats in the Assembly elections 2026, while the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 63 seats, and the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which had won 99 seats in 2021, was reduced to 35 seats.

Who is VD Satheesan?

VD Satheesan, one of the senior leaders of the Congress in Kerala, has built his political career through grassroots activism and legislative politics rather than national-level party networks. Born in 1964 in Nettoor near Kochi, Satheesan comes from a Congress background rooted in local politics. Trained as a lawyer and social worker, he began his political journey through the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the Congress.

He later became active in the Youth Congress, where he developed a reputation as a strong speaker and an effective political organiser. Over the years, Satheesan emerged as one of the Congress party’s prominent legislative voices in Kerala. Unlike several senior Congress leaders associated with factional politics within the party, Satheesan has often projected himself as part of a younger and comparatively reform-oriented group of leaders.

Satheesan has represented the Paravur Assembly constituency since 2001. In the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections, he retained the seat for the sixth consecutive term by defeating Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate ET Taison Master by a margin of 20,600 votes. He first won the Paravur Assembly seat in 2001 and successfully retained it in 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021 and 2026.