NDA candidate’s publicity announcement vehicle passing by as Congress workers fix party flags at a residential cluster in Kannanthura coastal area (Vettukad ward) ahead of local body elections in Thiruvananthapuram.
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
With open campaigning for the first phase of the local body polls in seven districts of Kerala slated to end at 6 p.m. on Sunday (December 7, 2025), candidates undertook high-decibel whirlwind tours of their constituencies to make a final, fervent public pitch to voters.
The vibrancy of the fierce contest seemed evident in clamorous roadshows and corner meetings. Campaign vehicles of the contenders wove through constituencies, drowning neighbourhoods in arousing electioneering theme songs set to deafening martial music. Crackers and traditional percussion ensembles heralded the arrival of candidates.
Party workers bearing flags and wearing party colours took out motorcycle rallies as the colourful campaigning reached a crescendo, inching towards a climactic finish in town centres in the evening.
In play in the first phase of polling on Tuesday (December 9) are three Municipal Corporations, 39 municipalities, seven district panchayats and 75 block panchayats, spanning Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts.
The political stakes are high for the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), the United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), given the perception that the civic polls offer an approximate bellwether of Kerala’s voting behaviour ahead of the Assembly elections in 2026.
Kerala local body elections 2025: UDF pushes for political reset in State
Last-minute political back-and-forths over Sabarimala gold theft, sexual predation cases swirling around “absconding” Palakkad MLA and expelled Congress leader, Rahul Mamkootathil, accusations of courting communally polarising outfits for electoral dividends and insinuations of illicit alliances to enable tactical cross-voting appeared to dominate the day’s election rhetoric.
They seemed to overshadow fundamental civic issues such as rubbish collection, seller inflation, affordability crisis, potholed roads, polluted waterways, blocked storm drains, dearth of public amenities, including toilets, an alleged decline in public services and importantly, disruptions to daily life, including traffic congestion, detours and challenges to public safety caused by the “slow-paced and flawed” NH-66 construction.
Shut out of power in the Assembly for nearly two terms, the UDF views the local body polls as an existential battle. The NDA hopes to emerge as a disruptive third force seeking to end the LDF-UDF duopoly in the State, albeit incrementally.
The LDF views the local body polls as an opportunity to dispel the UDF-NDA narrative that the anti-incumbency anger would narrow its path to a third consecutive victory in the 2026 Assembly polls.
The ruling front believes that the increased welfare pension for an estimated 62 lakh beneficiaries, along with an expanded social security net, will result in a ‘tangible improvement in public service delivery”, including healthcare and education, and critical infrastructure development, which they think will help the alliance win.
As the carnivalesque public campaigning inched towards its last gasp, the leaders of the competing coalitions-Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and BJP State president Rajiv Chandrasekhar-projected unallowed optimism.
Published – December 07, 2025 11:20 am IST
