In the Ambalapuzha Assembly seat, 79-year-old G Sudhakaran is leading by a margin of 20,378 votes after 10 of the 14 rounds of counting. (File Photo) 3 min read Thiruvanananthapuram May 4, 2026 04:13 PM IST First published on: May 4, 2026 at 03:58 PM IST Three CPI(M) rebels who broke ranks with the party on the eve of the Assembly elections and contested as UDF-backed Independents have delivered major upsets in the party’s citadels in Kerala. The unprecedented fight by rebels G Sudhakaran (Ambalapuzha), T K Govindan (Taliparamba) and V Kunhikrishnan (Payyannur) symbolised and represented the churning among cadre against alleged nepotism, financial misappropriation and criminalisation within the CPI(M). The CPI(M) lost the Payyannur Assembly seat to rebel leader V Kunhikrishnan for the first time since the constituency was formed in 1967. He defeated CPI(M)’s sitting legislator T I Madhusoodanan by a margin of 7,487 votes. Madhusoodanan had won the seat in 2021 with a record margin of 49,780.…