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Senior Congress person V.D. Satheesan was sworn successful arsenic the caller Chief Minister of Kerala on with 20 Ministers astatine a ceremonial held astatine a packed Central Stadium successful Thiruvananthapuram connected Monday (May 18, 2026). Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered the oath of bureau and secrecy to Mr. Satheesan and the Ministers-designate implicit a one-hour ceremonial that commenced astir 10.15 a.m.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had scripted a landslide triumph implicit the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front successful the April 9 Assembly elections by claiming 102 of the 140 seats successful the State Assembly.
Kerala swearing-in ceremonial LIVE updates
Mr. Satheesan, 61, who was Opposition Leader during 2021-2026, was the archetypal to beryllium sworn in. Mr. Arlekar work retired the oath of bureau which Mr. Satheesan repeated aft him. The process was repeated with the oath of secrecy. Mr. Satheesan past signed the oaths successful the books kept connected the table. Afterwards, Mr. Arlekar presented Mr. Satheesan with a bouquet arsenic the stadium drowned successful cheers and slogans from the crowd. Congress person Rahul Gandhi greeted the caller Chief Minister with a hug.
The Chief Secretary past presented the different Ministers-designate individually. Mr. Arlekar administered the oaths to them.
In taking the oaths, Mr. Satheesan was followed by Ministers-designate P.K. Kunhalikutty, Ramesh Chennithala, Sunny Joseph, K. Muraleedharan, Mons Joseph, Shibu Baby John, Anoop Jacob, C.P. John, A.P. Anil Kumar, N. Shamsudeen, P.C. Vishnunadh, Roji M. John, Bindu Krishna, M. Liju, K.M. Shaji, P.K. Basheer, V.E. Abdul Gafoor, T. Siddique, K.A Thulasi and O.J. Janeesh. All of them took the oath successful Malayalam, but K. Muraleedharan who took the oath successful English.
All but Mr. Shibu Baby John and C.P. John took the oath successful the sanction of God. Shibu Baby John, who represents the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and C.P. John, the Communist Marxist Party (CMP), made solemn affirmation of their commitment.
The Congress has 12 members successful the Cabinet including the Chief Minister. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has 5 Ministers, portion the Kerala Congress (Joseph), Kerala Congress (Jacob), RSP and CMP person 1 each. Mr. Satheesan, who succeeds CPI(M)’s Pinarayi Vijayan arsenic the Chief Minister, is besides the 13th idiosyncratic to clasp the post.
The portfolios of the Chief Minister and the Ministers are expected to beryllium made nationalist aboriginal contiguous (Monday). Mr. Satheesan had said connected Sunday (May 17) that the database would beryllium handed implicit to the Governor aft the swearing-in ceremonial and published done a gazette notification.
Huge crowds had gathered astatine the Central Stadium since aboriginal greeting to witnesser the function. Extensive arrangements, including postulation regulations, were successful spot crossed the State capital.
The ceremonial commenced astir 10.15 a.m. and concluded astir 11.30 a.m. with the recital of the Vande Mataram followed by the National Anthem.
Among those contiguous astatine the lawsuit were Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, elder leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Pinarayi Vijayan who is acceptable to beryllium Kerala’s caller Opposition Leader, AICC wide secretaries K.C. Venugopal and Deepa Dasmunshi, BJP State president and MLA Rajeev Chandrasekhar and CPI State caput Binoy Viswam.
Following the declaration of the predetermination results connected May 4, the Congress enactment had taken 10 days to prime Mr. Satheesan implicit Mr. Chennithala and AICC wide caput K.C. Venugopal arsenic the Congress Legislative Party person and CM-designate. After that, the full absorption had shifted to Cabinet formation. The discussions had stretched into Sunday afternoon. Mr. Satheesan had presented the database of ministers to the Governor connected Sunday (May 17) evening.
On Sunday (May 17, 2026), Mr. Satheesan had said that a “complete Cabinet” was being sworn successful astatine 1 spell for the archetypal clip successful 60 years. The Cabinet has 2 women and 2 ministers from the scheduled caste communities. Mr. Satheesan had besides stated that the UDF authorities was committed to moving towards gathering a “Puthuyuga Keralam.”
