Kerala Local Body Elections 2025 at a glance: Infographics

The counting of votes for the high-stakes Kerala local body elections began at 8 a.m. on Saturday (December 13, 2025), with early trends pointing to a close contest between the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) across key local bodies.

Initial trends released by the State Election Commission (SEC) at 12.22 p.m. showed the UDF leading in 456 grama panchayats, while the LDF was ahead in 372. The UDF also leads in 54 municipalities, seven district panchayats and four corporations.

Also read | Kerala local body polls 2025 results LIVE

The LDF, meanwhile, was ahead in 28 municipalities, seven district panchayats and one corporation. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was leading in 27 grama panchayats, two municipalities and one corporation.

Voter turnout in Kerala local body polls

The two-phase polling saw a higher voter turnout from women than men, with overall turnout for men being 72.7% and that for women being 74.5%. Transgender voter turnout was far lesser, at 40.4%. Overall voter turnout was 73.6%

Kerala has consistently recorded voter turnouts above 70% since 2010 in the local elections, including polls held in 2019 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as per SEC data. Wayanad district recorded the highest voter turnout of 78.2% and Pathanamthitta recorded the lowest (66.7%).

Candidates in the fray

More women candidates have contested the local body elections in both 2020 and 2025. However, while the number of male candidates has decreased between 2020 and 2025, the number of women candidates have increased. The Kerala government has a 50% reservation rule in place for women in the local body elections.

Among women candidates, a strong grassroots presence is evident, considering that 42% belong to the Kudumbashree network. Kudumbashree is the State’s poverty eradication program targeting women set up in 1979. Its members are part of a three-tier network with Neighbourhood Groups at the lowest level, Area Development Societies at the middle level and the Community Development Societies at the highest level. Of the women contesting the elections, 12,347 are members of Neighbourhood Groups.

This is not a new pattern. A significant chunk of women candidates in the previous elections, too, were Kudumbashree members.

Wards after delimitation

The State carried out a three-phase delimitation process beginning in October last year. The completion of the first phase was instrumental in deciding the electoral rolls for the local elections. The exercise concluded in August this year.

Here is how the number of wards changed post the exercise.