Dates set: Crucial test for CPM and Congress, Kerala local body polls to be held in December

The commissioner said elections will cover 23,576 wards/divisions in various local self-government bodies in the state. The total number of voters is 2.84 crore.

The outcome of the elections to the local bodies, comprising municipal corporations, municipalities, village panchayats, block panchayats, and district panchayats, is crucial for the ruling CPI(M) and the Opposition Congress, as it is likely to be seen as a referendum ahead of the Assembly elections in April-May next year.

In the 2020 local body elections, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) had made sweeping gains. Later, the 2021 Assembly elections saw the LDF retaining power for a second consecutive term.

In the 2020 elections, the LDF won five of the six municipal corporations; the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which had won two in 2015, won only one. Of the 86 municipalities, however, the UDF won 45, while the Left won 35. The BJP-led NDA won two.

Of the 941 gram panchayats, the LDF won 514 as against the UDF’s 377. The NDA won 22 gram panchayats. The Left made major advances in the district panchayats, winning 10 out of 14; the score was 7-7 the last time. Of the 152 block panchayats, the Left won 104, leaving the UDF with just 44.

The Left’s performance in the 2020 polls also marked a comeback after it was routed in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the LDF won only one out of 20 seats. The local body elections of 2025 are also being held a year after Lok Sabha elections that saw the LDF winning only one seat.

In the civic body elections of 2010 and 2015, the verdict was against the incumbent ruling front; subsequently, in the Assembly elections of 2011 and 2016, the Opposition won. If the LDF manages to bag most of the local bodies as it did in 2020, the results will be a matter of concern for the Congress-led UDF, which is making a desperate attempt to return to power in the 2026 Assembly elections.

BJP eyes Thiruvananthapuram

For the Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation elections, the BJP on Sunday announced its first list of 67 candidates. Prominent among the candidates are former DGP R Sreelekha and former athlete Padmini Thomas.

The CPI(M)-ruled Thiruvananthapuram corporation is at the top of the BJP’s agenda, mainly because the party is the leading Opposition in the council. Winning corporation, which has 101 divisions, will boost the BJP’s confidence ahead of the Assembly elections, especially in the constituencies of Nemom, Vattiyurkkavu and Kazhakkoottam, where the party had led in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The municipal corporation area is spread over these urban Assembly seats.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar had maintained a clear lead in these constituencies over Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, who eventually came out on top. In the 2016 Assembly elections, the BJP’s first electoral win was from Nemom, where veteran O Rajagopal was elected to the Assembly. The urban area has had a strong BJP vote bank since the 1980s.

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