With the State Election Commission (SEC) issuing the notification for the December local body elections on Friday, the battle for Kerala’s local bodies have begun in earnest.
While the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led [CPI(M)] Left Democratic Front (LDF) hopes for an encore of 2020 - when it dominated all levels of the local body tiers, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are looking to change the tide, eyeing upset victories, especially in crucial Corporations and municipalities.
Kerala local body elections 2025: A comprehensive coverage
In the 2020 elections, the LDF had gained a clear upper hand in the district panchayats, Corporations, grama and block panchayats and the municipalities. It currently holds five of the six Corporations, 44 of the 87 municipalities (including the Mattannur municipality in Kannur where elections were held in 2022), over 500 of the 941 grama panchayats, over 100 of the 152 block panchayats and 11 of the 14 district panchayats.
The UDF holds one Corporation - Kannur, in addition to 41 municipalities, over 300 grama panchayats, over 35 block panchayats and three district panchayats. The NDA controls two municipalities - Palakkad and Pandalam - and 11 grama panchayats.
