Overview
- On Tuesday, June 2, 2026, the Assembly voted 99 to 34 for Shanimol Osman with four abstentions and the Speaker not casting a vote.
- The result reflected the United Democratic Front’s comfortable majority in the 140-member House, where the UDF holds about 102 seats and the LDF and BJP are much smaller.
- Osman represents Aroor in Alappuzha and is a two-time MLA who won a 2019 bypoll, lost in 2021, and returned to the legislature in the 2026 election.
- Her election makes her the fourth woman to occupy the Deputy Speaker post in Kerala and the first woman in that role in over three decades, with the last Congress woman to hold it serving in 1960.
- The appointment both restores female representation in a senior Assembly office and strengthens the UDF’s control of House proceedings, which may ease passage of its legislative agenda.