Election 2026 Live Updates: Assembly election outcomes across West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry signalled a dramatic political churn, reshaping regional power equations and delivering major victories for both established and emerging players. The BJP-led NDA tightened its grip in eastern and northeastern India with decisive performances in Bengal, Assam and Puducherry, while actor-turned-politician Vijay scripted a historic breakthrough in Tamil Nadu by leading TVK to power and ending decades of Dravidian dominance. In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF mounted a strong comeback, though suspense over the chief ministerial face continued amid intense lobbying within the party.
Kerala Election News: Congress yet to name Kerala CM, suspense continues
The Congress leadership is yet to announce Kerala’s next chief minister, with discussions continuing among the party’s top leaders despite the UDF’s strong performance in the assembly elections. Kerala Congress chief Sunny Joseph said on Sunday that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi will soon take a final call after holding discussions with the three main contenders for the post. The contenders, K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala recently met the Congress high command in New Delhi to present their claims. Party sources said senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi and veteran leader A K Antony are also involved in the consultations.
While the Venugopal camp is relying on support within the Congress legislature party, Satheesan supporters believe public backing and support from UDF allies have strengthened his chances. Chennithala, meanwhile, is banking on his seniority and long political experience. Rahul Gandhi reportedly told all three leaders that each was capable of leading the state, but indicated that the political atmosphere was not suitable for an immediate announcement. The party leadership has also directed leaders and supporters to avoid public statements or mobilisation until a final decision is made.
Congress alleges Instagram blocked Rahul Gandhi’s Vijay posts due to govt rules
Congress on Sunday claimed that Instagram has “blocked” Rahul Gandhi’s reel and photo post featuring him and actor-politician Vijay due to the rules of the ministry of electronics and information technology, even as government sources denied the charge. Gandhi was in Chennai to attend the oathtaking ceremony of TVK’s Vijay as the Tamil Nadu CM and later shared several pictures with him on social media. On X, his aide Srivatsa claimed the reel had gathered 12 million views in less than an hour, while the picture post had reached 46 million people. “Meta cites no reason as to why his account has become inaccessible. The ‘glitch’ is because of MEITY rules! Rahul’s X reach, YouTube views, and Insta followers have been suppressed,” he alleged. This is how India’s opposition leader’s voice is curtailed, he added. “It is clarified that MeitY had nothing to do with this. It was because of the platform’s internal system mistakenly flagging the post for blocking, which has now been restored,” a ministry source said.
Shashi Tharoor says Congress benefited from SIR in Kerala
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has raised pointed questions over the electoral process in West Bengal, suggesting that large-scale deletions from voter rolls and delayed verification of appeals may have had a decisive impact on the state's election outcome. Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Tharoor said around 91 lakh names were struck off the lists, with approximately 34 lakh individuals filing appeals claiming they were genuine voters. He noted that only a small number of these cases were adjudicated before polling, leaving the vast majority unresolved at the time of voting.
Speaking at the 'India, That is Bharat' roundtable during the Stanford India Conference, Tharoor said, "In the matter of the SIR, what I have said is a legitimate question to answer. Look at the Bengal case. 91 lakh names were struck off the rolls. Of those, 34 lakh living human beings have appealed, saying that they are around and they are legitimately entitled to vote. The rules have required each case to be adjudicated individually, so only a few hundred were adjudicated before the vote. To this day, there are some 31, 32 lakh people who might be found to have been legitimate voters in the remaining years while adjudication carries on, but they have missed their chance to vote."
Drawing attention to the scale of the figures, he observed that the BJP's victory margin, around 30 lakh votes, closely aligns with the number of pending voter appeals, raising questions about whether eligible voters were effectively unable to cast their ballots. "And the BJP won Bengal by a margin of 30 lakh votes. Now you tell me, is that entirely fair and democratic? This is the question that I ask. Honestly, I have no problem with deleting spurious, deleted, absent, migrated voters," Tharoor said.
Further, Tharoor suspected that the removal of duplicate or multiple voter registrations in Kerala, where he claimed instances of double, triple, and even quadruple enrolments had existed in the past, may have worked in favour of the Congress party by cleaning up inflated voter lists historically associated with rival political practices. "And particularly in Kerala, I suspect the Congress benefited from the deletions because the CPM was long a past master of double enrollment, triple enrollment, quadruple enrollment--the same people in four different booths and so on. That used to happen. And so they were eliminated by the SIR, and as you said, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there were very few appeals. But in Bengal, there is no doubt that there were 34 lakh appeals. And that's 34 lakh forms filled by 34 lakh individuals. And of that, only a few hundred have been heard," he said.
Tamil Nadu Election News: Vijay’s event rewrites Tamil Nadu’s political grammar
In Tamil Nadu politics, swearing-in is rarely a mere formality. Every element carries a message. CM C Joseph Vijay’s swearing-in on Sunday was no different, reports Ram Sundaram. The guest list reflected the unusual coalition behind Vijay’s rise. Retired IAS officer U Sagayam, known for his anticorruption image, attended the event. So did lottery baron Santiago Martin, who faces money laundering charges, as his son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna took oath as a minister. Martin’s wife, Leema Rose, elected on an AIADMK ticket, was also present, though other AIADMK functionaries stayed away.
In another surprise, M K Alagiri’s daughter Kayalvizhi attended despite the DMK brass skipping the ceremony. BJP state chief Nainar Nagendran and ex-governor Tamilisai Soundararajan were also present despite TVK’s alliance with Congress. The front row carried a personal touch. Vijay’s parents, filmmaker S A Chandrasekar and Shoba, were emotional, while actor Trisha Krishnan made her first public appearance since the controversy over her appearance with Vijay at a wedding in April.
Vijay’s trademark opening, “En nenjil kudiyirukkum…” (who lives in my heart) and his appearance in a suit signalled a break from traditional Dravidian political imagery of veshtis, starched shirts, and colour-coded cadres. The loudest moment came when Vijay delivered the oath from memory in a performance-style cadence.
Assam Election News: Himanta Biswa Sarma to take oath on May 12
Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya on Sunday appointed Himanta Biswa Sarma as the chief minister of the state, clearing the way for the NDA’s third straight term in power. The decision came after Sarma was unanimously chosen as the leader of the BJP-led NDA legislature party. He later met the governor at Lok Bhavan along with alliance leaders and formally staked claim to form the government. According to an official notification issued by chief secretary Ravi Kota, Sarma will take oath at 11.40 am on May 12 at Veterinary College Field in Khanapara. The governor will also administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new council of ministers.
The NDA — comprising the BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) — registered a landslide victory in the 126-member Assam assembly, winning a record 102 seats. The BJP secured 82 seats, while AGP and BPF won 10 seats each. Sarma, who first became chief minister in 2021, will now become the first non-Congress leader in Assam to serve two consecutive terms as CM. The upcoming government will also mark the BJP-led alliance’s third straight term in the state since it first came to power in 2016 under former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and senior BJP leaders are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
The elections produced some of the most significant political shifts in recent years. In West Bengal, the BJP secured a historic mandate under Suvendu Adhikari, ending 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule led by Mamata Banerjee and establishing the party’s first government in the state. In Tamil Nadu, Vijay emerged as the architect of a political realignment, forming the state’s first non-Dravidian government since 1967 after securing outside support from the VCK and IUML. Himanta Biswa Sarma strengthened the BJP’s dominance in Assam with another emphatic NDA victory, while in Kerala the Congress-led UDF moved closer to power even as the party high command delayed announcing the next chief minister from among contenders K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala. Meanwhile, the NDA retained the upper hand in Puducherry, underscoring the alliance’s expanding footprint across multiple regions.
