Congress candidate Deepak Joy secured a comfortable victory in Thripunithura, one of the closely watched constituencies in the 2026 Kerala Assembly election.

Deepak defeated LDF candidate K N Unnikrishnan by a margin of 18,468 votes, consolidating the UDF’s hold over the constituency after veteran Congress leader K Babu chose not to seek another term.

Deepak polled 70,256 votes, improving the UDF tally from the 65,875 votes secured in the 2021 Assembly election. Unnikrishnan finished second with 51,788 votes.

NDA candidate and actor Anjali Nair was pushed to third place, polling 29,471 votes. Though she failed to mount a serious challenge, the NDA improved its vote tally from 23,756 in 2021.

Deepak remained ahead from the early rounds of counting and steadily widened his lead as counting progressed, eventually turning the contest into a comfortable victory. The Onmanorama Poll Meter survey had earlier given advantage to the UDF in the final stages of campaigning, and the results are in line with this prediction.

Thripunithura had emerged as one of the most closely watched constituencies after K Babu, who had dominated the seat for decades, decided not to contest again. His exit opened up a rare opportunity for both the LDF and NDA in a constituency long shaped by his personal influence.

The UDF fielded Kochi Deputy Mayor Deepak Joy as Babu’s successor, while the LDF quickly named K N Unnikrishnan after the election schedule was announced.

The NDA added intrigue to the race by allotting the seat to Twenty20-backed candidate Anjali Nair, a move that surprised sections of BJP workers who had viewed Thripunithura as one of the party’s strongest prospects in the state.

Anjali’s campaign drew attention through social media outreach and a viral campaign built around the Twenty20 jackfruit symbol, but failed to translate that visibility into electoral momentum.

As the campaign progressed, however, momentum increasingly shifted toward the UDF. Initially seen as an outsider, Deepak Joy gradually built a local connect, aided significantly by K Babu’s extensive campaigning and transfer of his personal voter base.

Thripunithura has historically been a Congress bastion under Babu. He represented the constituency from 1991 to 2021, barring a lone defeat in 2016 to M Swaraj.

Babu first won the seat in 1991 by defeating M M Lawrence by 4,946 votes. He later expanded his margins significantly, defeating rivals by 14,773 votes in 1996 and by 24,296 votes in 2001.

He maintained comfortable victories in 2006 and 2011 before losing to Swaraj in 2016 amid the fallout from the bar bribery controversy during the Oommen Chandy government, when he served as Excise Minister.

Babu reclaimed the seat in 2021, defeating Swaraj by just 992 votes — the narrowest victory margin of his career.

The result underlines the Congress party’s strength in Thripunithura, even in the post-Babu era.