The local bodies of central Kerala, which are spread across the four districts of Alappuzha, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur, are all set to witness politically significant contests.
Barring Ernakulam district, the CPI (M)-led LDF has been sitting pretty in all the other three districts of the region. The Front, which had been in absolute control of almost all the local bodies of the three districts, hope to repeat its previous performance.
Even in Ernakulam, which is often considered a UDF stronghold, the LDF returned to power in Kochi Corporation in 2020 after being in Opposition for two successive terms.
The NDA was nowhere in the political scene in the central Kerala region during the last election, except in Kochi and Thrissur Corporations, where too their presence was limited to single digit. The BJP could get only five of its councillors elected to the 74-member Kochi Corporation and six to the 55-member Thrissur Corporation.
Uphill task for NDA
An uphill political task awaits the saffron party to consolidate its support base, increase its vote share and validate its claims of increased public support by winning a respectable number of seats in the four districts, where the CPI(M) and the Left parties have a formidable presence.
The squabbles between the BJP and BDJS over the sharing of seats in some of the local bodies of Alappuzha, where the latter claimed to have made inroads and the continuing bickering between the CPI(M) and the CPI and the decision of the two parties to go it all alone in some local bodies may have a bearing on the poll outcome.
BJP leaders hope that the increased vote share of its candidates in the Lok Sabha elections would reflect in the civic polls too. The party may also have to overcome the reported tacit political understanding between the UDF and the LDF to keep the BJP at bay, as in at least five panchayats of Alappuzha district last time.
KC(M) factor
If the representation in outgoing civic administrations and the increased number of seats to contest in the upcoming polls are indicators of the political relevance of a party, it is the Kerala Congress (M), a constituent of the LDF, that matters most in the central Kerala region.
The party, which contested in around 150 seats in Idukki, the second-highest number after Kottayam district, the seat of the organisation, and got around 110 members elected last time, is contesting in around 200 seats this time. The nominees of the party were elected as the chairpersons of a few civic bodies, including the district and a few village panchayats of Idukki, for the first time.
The CPI (M) appeared to be graciously accommodating the demands of the party, hoping that such tactics would help the front consolidate its position in the Christian belt of the district during the civic polls as well as the ensuing Assembly elections.
Seat sharing
The Congress, it appears, is organisationally in a relatively better position in the region as the seat allocation among its workers and between the front partners was more or less an uneventful affair, with a smaller number of rebels and dissidents fielding themselves as the candidates in the polls.
The organisational machinery of the party was set into poll mode much ahead of the LDF in a large number of local bodies, including the Kochi Corporation, where its workers were engaged in enrolling new voters and updating the voters’ list. The homework, the party leaders hope, would earn them rich dividends.
The civic bodies controlled by the LDF hope to return to power and wrest back the ones that were lost last time on account of what they term as the development initiatives rolled out across the local bodies on an unprecedented scale.
Much is at stake for the UDF and the Congress in these districts, as the dispensation had been forced to sit in the Opposition in most of the local bodies during the last term. The front, which has come out with a charter of charges against the LDF-controlled civic bodies, hopes to capitalise on the reported failures and follies of the State government as well as the civic bodies.
Perform or perish is what guides all the fronts in the civic polls, which are considered as a precursor to the Assembly polls due next year.
(With inputs from Mini Muringatheri in Thrissur and Sandeep Vellaram in Idukki)
Published – November 21, 2025 09:31 am IST
