Keralam local body bypolls leave status quo in Ernakulam as UDF, LDF and Twenty20 retain seats

Political fronts have managed to maintain status quo in Ernakulam district as the results of the local body bypolls were declared on Tuesday. Of the four wards which went to the bypolls, the United Democratic Front (UDF) retained its two seats while the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Twenty20 Party have maintained one each.

The UDF retained the Ayyappankavu division of the Kochi Corporation where the bypoll was necessitated following the election of Congress’ Deepak Joy as Thripunithura MLA. The other seat the UDF retained is Madaplathuruth ward of Vadakkekara grama panchayat which Congress candidate Jose Kuniyathodathu won by 140 votes. Mr. Kuniyathodathu won 611 votes against 471 polled by the CPI(M)’s Laiju Joseph. BJP’s San. P.R had to settle for a distant third with 38 votes. UDF’s Sebi Puthenveettil had won the ward by 162 votes in the 2025 local body elections. The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Mr. Puthenveettil after he secured a job abroad.

Twenty20 retained the Kolencherry east ward of Poothrikka panchayat in what looked like a prestige battle for the corporate-backed political forum after its poor show in the Assembly elections. Twenty20’s Deenamma Jacob won the ward by 96 votes. She won 339 votes against UDF’s Saramma Paily Pillai (243 votes) and LDF’s Neethu Joyd (137). Notably, the Twenty20 could improve its winning margin from 49 votes in the 2025 election in the ward. The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Twenty20’s Pooja Mohan in protest against the party’s decision to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the assembly polls. Twenty20 contested the bypoll on its own without mentioning the BJP alliance in what the leaders of the two parties claimed to be a pragmatic move to retain the seat. With the win, both the Twenty20 and the UDF are again tied at seven seats in the 16-ward panchayat where the LDF holds two seats.

Puliyanam South of Parakkadavu panchayat has been retained by the LDF. Sugandhi Joshy of the CPI(M) won by 207 votes against the UDF’s Mallika. While Ms. Joshy polled 575 votes, Mallika could garner only 368. BJP’s Sandra Subrahmanian ended up fourth with 25 votes. The seat fell vacant following the resignation of CPI(M)’s Raji Rajeev, who had won by 372 votes in 2025, after finding a job abroad.