Kerala local body polls: BJP captures power in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, ending decades-long LDF rule

Ending over four decades of the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) hold over the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (BJP-NDA) secured power in the civic body, perhaps the most important local body in Kerala, as the results of the local body polls were declared on Saturday (December 13, 2025). The NDA won 50 wards in the 101-ward Corporation, while the LDF was reduced to 29 wards.

It is a major turnaround for the NDA, which had won only in six wards until a decade ago. In the past two local body elections, the BJP had mounted a major push to capture power, but after the initial surge in 2015, it had remained almost static in 2020. Its loss in subsequent byelections also signalled a weakening of its hold. However, the results this time have defied all such projections. The significance of the victory was underscored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted: “The mandate the BJP-NDA got in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation is a watershed moment in Kerala’s politics.”

The United Democratic Front (UDF) put up an improved showing, winning 19 seats, as it reversed the downward trend witnessed in the previous two elections. The UDF’s tally had slumped from 40 to 21 in 2015, and further to 10 in 2020. However, its gains this year seem to have come at the cost of the LDF as 12 of the 19 wards that it won are the LDF’s sitting seats.

Party workers and candidates congratulating BJP State chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar at Mararji Bhavan following the NDA’s victory in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation election on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
NIRMAL HARINDRAN

The LDF camp, which exuded confidence of improving its tally of 51 seats secured in the last election, slumped to a shocking defeat, losing some wards in which they have never lost. For instance, the UDF won in the Muttada ward, which was in the spotlight before the polls after the State Election Commission (SEC) restored the name of Vyshna Suresh, the Congress candidate, following the intervention of the Kerala High Court. Though the LDF and the NDA were involved in a neck-and-neck fight, with prospects of even a hung verdict in the initial hours, the NDA soon pulled away, maintaining a clear lead which only increased as the counting progressed.

Vyshna Suresh, UDF candidate from Muttada, celebrates outside the counting centre following her victory to the city Corporation election in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
JAYAMOHAN A.

The BJP, which in the run up to the election was roiled by allegations that surfaced following the suspected suicide of its councillor as well as another party worker and corruption allegations in other cooperative societies, was seemingly unaffected by all of it. The party has consolidated its position in wards that it won in the last two elections. Its margins have mostly increased in the wards that it managed to capture for the first time in 2015.

Even as the LDF won all the four municipalities as well as the district panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram, the loss of power in the Corporation and the erosion of urban votes could be a cause for worry for the leadership ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

Among major candidates, BJP’s R. Sreelekha, former Director General of Police (DGP) won from Sasthamangalam by a margin of over 600 votes. She had courted controversy on polling day by sharing a fake opinion poll on her social media page and is facing the prospect of action related to poll code violations. Former Congress MLA K.S. Sabarinadhan won by a small margin of 74 votes from the Kowdiar ward. All of the LDF’s senior brigade, who were touted to be Mayor candidates, including S.P. Deepak, Vanchiyoor P. Babu, K. Sreekumar and R.P. Sivaji won.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and former Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar secured her fourth straight victory, while Congress (S) leader Palayam Rajan’s decades-long stint as an LDF councillor came to end with the loss at Nanthencode. BJP leader V.V. Rajesh won by a comfortable margin from Kodunganoor.

Speaking to mediapersons after the victory, BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the people of Kerala have begun accepting the slogan of ‘Vikasita Keralam’ (developed Kerala) put forward by the BJP. He said that the results are a reflection of the failure of the LDF-led State government as well as the Corporation.