UDF workers celebrating the front’s victory in the local body elections in Kumily, Idukki, on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Idukki district, for long a Congress bastion before voting the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to power in the 2020 local body elections, has once again favoured the Congress. This time, the party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has swept to power with a healthy margin in the Thodupuzha and Kattappana municipalities, Idukki district panchayat, and majority of the block and grama panchayats. According to UDF district chairperson Joy Vettikkuzhi, the front’s victory this time was on the lines of its performance in 2010, when it won all 14 district panchayat seats.
This time, the UDF has won in 20 seats in the Kattappana municipality, and the LDF in 12 seats. In the Thodupuzha municipality, the UDF bagged 19 seats and the LDF, 3. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demonstrated its growing influence by securing nine seats in Thodupuzha.
The UDF got 14 out of the 17 seats in the district panchayat, while the LDF secured the remaining three. In the Idukki block panchayat, the UDF won seven out of eight seats.
“Out of the 52 grama panchayats, the UDF won in 36. This victory shows that the people of Idukki trust us. It also proves that the Kerala Congress (M) does not have much influence here. The UDF has come to power in eight grama panchayats in the Idukki Assembly constituency, the segment of Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine,” said Mr. Vettikkuzhi.
LDF in Edamalakkudy
Apart from the Thodupuzha municipality, the NDA performed poorly in the district. The party could not win any seat in the Kattappana municipality, Idukki district panchayat, and block panchayats, with only a few of its candidates winning in grama panchayats. The NDA had actively campaigned in Edamalakkudy, the first tribal panchayat in the State. But the BJP, which had won five seats in the grama panchayat in 2020, lost two this time and the LDF gained control of the panchayat.
The Kerala Congress (M), which helped the LDF come to power in many grama panchayats and the district panchayat in 2020, could not repeat the performance this time around.
Three political parties based in Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), had fielded candidates here banking on the votes of Tamil-origin plantation workers, but they could not win a single seat.
2020 position
In the 2020 election, the LDF had won in 28 of the 52 panchayats, the UDF in 22, and the BJP in one. The UDF had won in the Kattappana and Thodupuzha municipalities. Initially, the LDF had come to power in Thodupuzha with the support of a Congress rebel, but in 2024, the UDF returned to power after moving a no-confidence motion. The LDF had won the district panchayat.
Published – December 13, 2025 07:40 pm IST
