While Kollam's Kottarakara appeared to be backing Finance Minister KN Rajagopal initially in the counting of the Kerala State Assembly Elections, his lead is narrowing down after 10 am. Currently, Balagopal has a lead of just about 600 votes. 

Kottarakkara is witnessing one of the most spotlight-grabbing contests in the Kerala Assembly Elections 2026. The constituency, which has LDF's Finance Minister KN Balagopal, UDF's Aisha Potty and BJP's R Resmi in the fray, is touted as the most likely to be a close contest between the LDF and the UDF. Will Balagopal's positional advantage, his image as a serious administrator, and his calm demeanour work in his favour to win votes? Will grassroots connect, popularity among women, and experience benefit Aisha Potty? Will R Resmi, who came second in the 2021 election, benefit from any anti-incumbency sentiment against these established players? The Manorama News–C Voter exit poll and Onmanorama Poll meter predicted that Finance Balagopal will retain the seat against Potty, and it's time to see who the voters want as their representative in Kottarakkara.

A mixed track record
For 25 years, until 2006, Kottarakkara was an R Balakrishna Pillai stronghold. What mattered more in the region was his personal aura, regardless of his party affiliations. When many factors, like anti-incumbency, a corruption controversy, age, and more, worked against Pillai, a younger, more accessible, and energetic Aisha Potty won in 2006. She won in 2011 and 2016 as well, but the party did not give her a seat in 2021, as it decided to follow the two-term norm (A former policy stating that MLAs or MPs should not contest for more than two consecutive terms), and fielded Balagopal. He won with a majority of 10,000 votes and went on to become the Finance Minister. This year's BJP candidate, R Resmi, who was then with Congress, came in second.

Aisha Potty, who confessed to long-standing CPM issues, joined Congress in January this year. Right in the first candidate list Congress released, Aisha Potty was fielded as their incumbent from Kottarakkara. There were reports of discontent in the party, but eventually, it didn't matter. A month after Aisha joined Congress, Resmi quoted bitter experiences from Congress and joined the BJP. Right away, the BJP chief, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, announced that she would be their candidate in the Assembly election. Though Resmi said her BJP entry has nothing to do with Potty joining the Congress, many observers say she switched after realising she would no longer be the candidate for the Assembly Election.

What may count against candidates
Each of the candidates fielded in Kottarakkara has some strong factors working against them this time. While it is the anti-incumbency factor that's one of the main challenges for Balagopal, Potty's so-called opportunism has apparently written off her name in the minds of a handful of voters who liked her ever-smiling personality. Voters also said that the similar factor of 'poaching,' which brought Resmi to the BJP from Congress, might work against her despite the candidate enjoying her share of popularity.