Kerala Assembly polls 2026: Star effect in State politics

Back in 1987, ageing Malayalam superstar Prem Nazir took his plunge into politics, after some level of persuasion from the Congress leadership. The fact that two other south Indian States were ruled by film stars, MGR in Tamil Nadu and NTR in Andhra Pradesh, at that point of time probably made the Congress try out a similar experiment in Kerala. However, despite the persuasion, Nazir did not contest, but took time out from his shooting schedule to campaign for the Congress across the State.

Perhaps indicating what Keralites back then thought about film stars and celebrities intervening in active politics, the Congress failed to win that election as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) came to power. It used to be even proudly claimed by many that the glitz and glamour of the film world will not work with the politically aware populace of Kerala. The win of filmmaker Ramu Kariat from the Nattika Assembly constituency in 1965 remained as an aberration until recently.

Even the stellar record of actor and current Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar of the Kerala Congress (B) (a constituent party of the ruling LDF), who has not lost from Pathanapuram since 2001, cannot be explained completely by his celebrityhood. He sort of inherited the political legacy of his father R. Balakrishna Pillai, a former MP and Minister who held on to his constituency for over three decades.