Alappuzha, May 6 -- In one of the biggest political upsets of the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections, Congress youth leader AD Thomas on Wednesday stormed into the Keralam Legislative Assembly by defeating senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) leader and sitting MLA PP Chitharanjan in the Left bastion of Alappuzha.

The 30-year-old Kerala Students' Union (KSU) leader won the constituency with a massive margin of 21,015 votes, ending decades of Left dominance in the coastal constituency and emerging as one of the surprise faces of the election. Thomas secured 81,065 votes, while Chitharanjan managed 60,050 votes. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and former Congress leader MJ Job finished a distant third with 15,373 votes.

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