List of leaders of the opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly

The post of Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly has been held by 11 politicians since the Assembly was established in 1957. All have belonged to either the Indian National Congress, the Communist Party of India or the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The current Leader of the Opposition, since May 2021, is V. D. Satheesan. V. S. Achuthanandan has served as Leader of the Opposition for 15 non-consecutive years which makes him the longest serving leader of the opposition in Kerala Legislative Assembly.

List of opposition leaders of Kerala

Key

SL No.	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Party		Term of office		Assembly	Chief Minister	Term of office
						From	To
1		P. T. Chacko	Vazhoor	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	5 April 1957	31 July 1959	1st (1957-59)	E. M. S. Namboodiripad	Template:Ayd
2		E. M. S. Namboodiripad	Pattambi	Communist Party of India	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	22 February 1960	10 September 1964	2nd (1960-64)	Pattom Thanu Pillai R. Sankar	Template:Ayd
3		K. Karunakaran	Mala	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	6 March 1967	1 November 1969	3rd (1967-70)	E. M. S. Namboodiripad	Template:Ayd
(2)		E. M. S. Namboodiripad	Pattambi	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	rowspan="3" width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1 November 1969	1 August 1970		C. Achutha Menon	Template:Ayd
					4 October 1970	25 March 1977	4th (1970-77)	Template:Ayd
			Alathur		25 March 1977	22 February 1978	5th (1977-79)	K. Karunakaran A. K. Antony	Template:Ayd
(3)		K. Karunakaran	Mala	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	23 February 1978		13 August 1979	A. K. Antony P. K. Vasudevan Nair	Template:Ayd
4		T. K. Ramakrishnan	Thrippunithura	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	13 August 1979		11 October 1979	P. K. Vasudevan Nair	Template:Ayd
5		P. K. Vasudevan Nair	Alappuzha	Communist Party of India	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	11 October 1979		1 December 1979	CH Mohammed Koya	Template:Ayd
(3)		K. Karunakaran	Mala	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	25 January 1980	20 October 1981	6th (1980-82)	E. K. Nayanar	Template:Ayd
6		E. K. Nayanar	Malampuzha	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	rowspan="2" width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	28 December 1981	17 March 1982		K. Karunakaran	Template:Ayd
					24 May 1982	25 March 1987	7th (1982-87)	Template:Ayd
(3)		K. Karunakaran	Mala	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	26 March 1987	17 June 1991	8th (1987-91)	E. K. Nayanar	Template:Ayd
(6)		E. K. Nayanar	Thrikaripur	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	rowspan="2" width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	24 June 1991	29 February 1992	9th (1991-96)	K. Karunakaran	Template:Ayd
7		V. S. Achuthanandan	Mararikulam		1 March 1992	9 May 1996	K. Karunakaran A. K. Antony		Template:Ayd
8		A. K. Antony	Cherthala	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	20 May 1996	13 May 2001	10th (1996-2001)	E. K. Nayanar	Template:Ayd
(7)		V. S. Achuthanandan	Malampuzha	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	17 May 2001	12 May 2006	11th (2001-06)	A. K. Antony Oommen Chandy	Template:Ayd
9		Oommen Chandy	Puthuppally	Indian National Congress	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	18 May 2006	14 May 2011	12th (2006-11)	V. S. Achuthanandan	Template:Ayd
(7)	Error creating thumbnail:	V. S. Achuthanandan	Malampuzha	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color |	18 May 2011	20 May 2016	13th (2011-16)	Oommen Chandy	Template:Ayd
10	File:Ramesh Chennithala profile 02.jpg	Ramesh Chennithala	Haripad	Indian National Congress	rowspan="2" width="4px" style="background-color: Template:Party color |	25 May 2016	20 May 2021	14th (2016-21)	Pinarayi Vijayan	Template:Ayd
11	File:VD SATHEESAN.jpg	V. D. Satheesan	Paravur		22 May 2021	Incumbent	15th (2021-)	Template:Ayd

Leaders of opposition who have served as chief minister

S.No.	Name	No: of terms as chief minister	Tenure as chief minister	No: of terms served as leader of the opposition	Tenure as leader of the opposition
1.	E.M.S. Namboodiripad	2	1957-59, 1967-69	4	1960-64, 1969-70, 1970-77, 1977-78
2.	K. Karunakaran	4	1977, 1981-82, 1982-87, 1991-95	4	1967-69, 1978-79, 1980-81, 1987-91
3.	A.K. Antony	3	1977-78, 1995-96, 2001-04	1	1996-2001
4.	P.K. Vasudevan Nair	1	1978-79	1	1979
5.	E.K. Nayanar	3	1980-81, 1987-91, 1996-2001	3	1981-82, 1982-87, 1991-92
6.	Oommen Chandy	2	2004-06, 2011-16	1	2006-11
7.	V.S. Achuthanandan	1	2006-11	3	1992-96, 2001-06, 2011-16

E.M.S. Namboodiripad, A.K. Antony, E.K. Nayanar, Oommen Chandy and P.K. Vasudevan Nair first served as Chief Ministers before occupying the post of Leader of the Opposition.

K. Karunakaran and V.S. Achuthanandan served as Leader of the Opposition before donning the mantle of Chief Ministership.

P.T. Chacko, T.K. Ramakrishnan, Ramesh Chennithala and incumbent Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan have not served as Chief Minister. Conversely, Pattom A. Thanu Pillai, R. Sankar, C. Achutha Menon, C. H. Mohammed Koya and incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan have not served as Leader of the Opposition.

Statistics

Template:Tooltip	Name	Party		Length of term		No: of terms
				Terms	Total years in office
1	Template:Sortname	CPI(M)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1992-96, 2001-06, 2011-16	14 years, 65 days	3
2	E. M. S. Namboodiripad	CPI(M)/CPI	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1960-64, 1969-70, 1970-77, 1977-78	12 years, 220 days	4
3	Template:Sortname	INC	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1967-69, 1978-79, 1980-81, 1987-91	8 years, 118 days	4
4	E. K. Nayanar	CPI(M)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1981-82, 1982-87, 1991-92	5 years, 270 days	3
5	Template:Sortname	INC	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2006-11	4 years, 361 days	1
6	Ramesh Chennithala		style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2016-21	4 years, 360 days	1
7	Template:Sortname		style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1996-2001	4 years, 358 days	1
8	V. D. Satheesan		style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2021 onwards	Template:Ayd	1
9	P. T. Chacko		style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1957-59	2 years, 117 days	1
10	T. K. Ramakrishnan	CPI(M)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1979	60 days	1
11	Template:Sortname	CPI	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	1979	51 days	1

Timeline

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 from: 22/02/1960 till: 10/09/1964 color:cpi
 from: 01/11/1969 till: 01/08/1970 color:cpm
 from: 04/10/1970 till: 22/02/1978 color:cpm text:"E. M. S. Namboodiripad"
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 from: 06/03/1967 till: 01/11/1969 color:inc
 from: 23/02/1978 till: 13/08/1979 color:inc
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 from: 26/03/1987 till: 17/06/1991 color:inc text:"K. Karunakaran" 
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 from: 11/10/1979 till: 01/12/1979 color:cpi text:"P.K.Vasudevan Nair"
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 from: 28/12/1981 till: 17/03/1982 color:cpm
 from: 24/05/1982 till: 25/03/1987 color:cpm
 from: 24/06/1991 till: 29/02/1992 color:cpm text:"E. K. Nayanar" 
 fontsize:10
 bar:Achuthanandan
 from: 01/03/1992 till: 09/05/1996 color:cpm
 from: 17/05/2001 till: 12/05/2006 color:cpm
 from: 18/05/2011 till: 20/05/2016 color:cpm text:"V. S. Achuthanandan" 
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bar:Satheesan
from: 22/05/2021 till:  $today     color:inc text:"V.D. Satheesan" 

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See also

• Kerala Council of Ministers
• Deputy Chief Ministers of Kerala
• Chief Ministers of Kerala

References

• Chief Ministers, Ministers, and Leaders of Opposition of Kerala. Secratriat of Kerala Legislature.

Further reading

• Mathrubhumi Yearbook Plus - 2019{{#if:Chandran|, Chandran}. P. V. Chandran, Managing Editor, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Company Limited, Kozhikode(2018)
• A Survey of Kerala History{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. DC Books(2007). ISBN 9788126415786