Congress-led UDF Scores Big Win in Kerala Local Body Elections
BJP expands its footprint across Kerala
Congress blames CPI(M) for BJP’s electoral gains
In Kerala’s decisive local body elections, the Congress-led UDF secured a sweeping victory across the three tiers—panchayats, municipalities and corporations. The BJP, meanwhile, is all set to rule the crucial Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, a result that could mark a decisive turn in the state’s political history. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front was reduced to just one corporation, losing five in the process. For the first time in the state's history, the UDF won a majority of panchayats, possibly signalling deep disenchantment among the rural populace.
The Left’s dramatic loss of five corporations—retaining only one—marks its weakest urban performance in recent decades, underscoring erosion among middle-class and youth voters who once formed its urban base.
Equally significant is the fact that the BJP fell just one seat short of the majority mark of 51 in the 101-member Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. The party has stepped up efforts to win over two independent councillors to secure a simple majority. If successful, it would mark a decisive moment in Kerala’s political history, with the saffron party set to rule the capital city of what has long been regarded as the country’s lone remaining red citadel.
The Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation encompasses four Assembly constituencies, and the BJP has signalled that it intends to leverage its breakthrough in the capital city as a launchpad for its future political projects in the state.
Though limited in overall footprint, the win breaks a long-standing bipolar political pattern in Kerala’s urban centres. It provides the BJP with a symbolic and strategic foothold in the capital. Taken together, the results indicate a fragmented yet reconfigured political landscape, where the UDF emerges resurgent, the Left faces an existential challenge in urban and rural Kerala, and the BJP positions itself as a potential third pole ahead of future Assembly elections.
Beyond their impressive performance, the BJP expanded its influence across the state, winning 25 grama panchayats, securing seats in the majority of the municipalities, and winning significant amount of seats in the once CPIM-stronghold of the Kollam and Kozhikode corporations. With the BJP winning a sizable number of seats in both corporations, the UDF failed to secure a simple majority in Kollam, and the LDF faced the same fate in Kozhikode.
More politically significant is the UDF's performance, despite the BJP capturing a considerable share of anti-LDF votes. The Congress-led front won about 500 grama panchayats and four corporations for the first time.
The LDF, which had near-total control over local self-governments after the 2020 elections—winning 580 grama panchayats—has seen its tally shrink to 340, while the UDF has surged from 340 to around 500 grama panchayats. At the district panchayat level, the LDF’s presence has dropped to just seven districts, down from 11 in 2020. In the municipalities, the Left won only 28 seats, a sharp decline from the 42 it had secured five years ago.
It is a rare occurrence in Kerala for the UDF to secure a majority of the state’s grama panchayats.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the election results were a setback to what he described as the CPI(M)’s “competitive communalism”. He alleged that the ruling party had effectively operated in tandem with the BJP, and argued that the BJP’s gains were a direct outcome of the CPI(M)’s communal propaganda. “The BJP’s rise has been enabled by the communalist campaign of the CPI(M),” Satheesan said.
KPCC president Sunny Joseph described the verdict as a mandate against the Pinarayi Vijayan government, attributing the LDF’s rout to rampant corruption, the Sabarimala gold theft case, and a range of anti-people policies pursued by the government.
CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan alleged that the UDF had engaged in vote-trading with the BJP to defeat the Left, and maintained that the election results did not reflect any anti-government sentiment among the public.
The CPI, a major constituent of the LDF, offered a guarded response, with state secretary Binoy Viswam suggesting that the government must adhere more closely to Left values and ethos. He also did not rule out anti-incumbency sentiment among the electorate.
The BJP’s improved performance—particularly in major cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kozhikode—appears to have come mainly at the political expense of the CPI(M). In the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the Left Front lost more than 20 seats, while the UDF almost doubled its tally compared to the 2020 elections. In Kollam, a long-standing Left bastion, the CPI(M) lost to the Congress for the first time in four decades, with the BJP making significant inroads in the district.
In Kerala, local body elections have traditionally served as a barometer of the electorate’s political mood ahead of Assembly polls. With the state set to go to the polls in April next year, the results are being widely read as an early indicator of the battles to come.
