Once considered a strictly bipolar political arena, the BJP has effectively challenged the LDF-UDF duopoly in Kerala with its strong presence in local bodies.
Published Dec 14, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 14, 2025 | 9:00 AM
UDF celebrating its victory in Palakkad under the leadership of DCC chief Sumesh Achuthan.
Synopsis: While states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh are securing big projects and developing industries, Kerala keeps blaming the Centre. Youth, with exposure to other states and countries, have been noticing this anomaly, which reflected in the election results.
There is a saying in Kerala that local body elections are decided by the influence of individual candidates and local issues. However, the 2025 local body polls have decisively rewritten that belief.
The state witnessed overtly political voting, with clear evidence of how major controversies reshaped voter behaviour across both urban and rural areas.
The results have offered an unambiguous political picture. The UDF staged a comeback, the LDF faced visible vote erosion, and the BJP boldly stepped into Kerala’s local governance space.
Once considered a strictly bipolar political arena, the BJP has challenged the LDF-UDF duopoly in Kerala with its strong presence in local bodies.
In the run-up to the elections, a series of controversies has shaken the state’s political landscape.
Issues such as the Sabarimala temple gold theft case, the Waqf land dispute, sex scandals involving Congress MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil, Mayor Arya Rajendran’s perceived administrative failures, the Palakkad brewery controversy, Twenty20 impact, and the Kerala Congress (M)’s influence in Central Travancore played a decisive role in shaping voter sentiment.
Former Kerala DGP R Sreelekha made her electoral debut by winning the Sasthamangalam ward in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and is also being considered for the mayor’s office, party sources said.
Former DGP R Sreelekha.
After her victory, she thanked the people, her party, Lord Ayyappa and Lord Padmanabha, with a reference to Lord Ayyappa drawing attention.
But in a dramatic twist, the LDF recorded an unexpected victory in the Sabarimala ward of the Ranni–Perunad grama panchayat in Pathanamthitta district, where the Sabarimala temple is located.
With both the LDF and UDF candidates securing 268 votes each, the winner was decided by drawing lots, in which the CPI(M) candidate emerged victorious.
CPI(M)’s PS Uthaman and Congress’s Ambili Sujas tied in Sabarimala ward, with BJP’s Rajesh third (232 votes). Once a BJP stronghold, the LDF’s win is significant.
In Ranni–Perunad panchayat, LDF won 8 seats, UDF 4, NDA 2. The Sabarimala gold theft controversy affected LDF’s traditional base, but the ward’s lucky draw helped CPI(M) retain a symbolic foothold for its future narrative.
Over the past few months, Ernakulam has been at the centre of some of Kerala’s most politically sensitive flashpoints — from the Munambam Waqf land agitation to the hijab controversy at a private school in Palluruthy.
Munambam displays pro-Modi posters amid Waqf dispute.
Yet, when the votes were counted, Ernakulam largely held its ground as the UDF’s golden fort. The LDF faced a crushing setback in the district, losing control of all 13 municipalities.
The UDF swept 12 municipalities — Eloor, Kalamassery, Kothamangalam, North Paravur, Perumbavoor, Piravom, Thrikkakara, Maradu, Koothattukulam, Muvattupuzha, Aluva and Angamaly, while the BJP-led NDA staged a surprise takeover of Tripunithura.
In the 2020 local body polls, the UDF controlled eight municipalities, with the LDF governing five, including Tripunithura.
This time, the UDF wrested Eloor, Koothattukulam, Piravom and Kothamangalam from the LDF, while Tripunithura slipped from the Left’s hands into the NDA’s camp. The result marked a complete erasure of the LDF from municipal governance in Ernakulam district.
The UDF also reclaimed the Kochi Corporation, reversing a narrow defeat in 2020. Overcoming internal rebellions that had earlier helped the LDF seize power, the Congress posted a decisive victory. Of the 76 wards, the UDF surged ahead in 45, leaving the LDF with 24 and the NDA with five.
However, beneath the UDF’s sweeping district-level dominance, localised shifts clearly favoured the BJP in politically charged pockets such as Tripunithura and Munambam.
In Munambam’s Kadappuram ward under Pallippuram panchayat — the epicentre of the ongoing Waqf land protest — BJP candidate Kunjumon Augustine registered a historic win by a slender margin of 28 votes.
Kunjumon Augustine
This was the BJP’s first-ever contest in the ward, long considered a UDF bastion.
Philip Joseph, the BJP’s minority wing chief and a native of Munambam, told South First that the party’s victory in Munambam has delivered a clear message to both the LDF and UDF.
UDF candidate Dani Koottaparambil and LDF’s Binoy Kurishinkil were pushed to second and third places, respectively. BJP leaders hailed the victory as a strategic breakthrough amid a highly sensitive land dispute.
Tripunithura, too, told a similar story.
South First had earlier flagged the hijab controversy as an issue likely to tilt voters towards the BJP — a prediction that played out at the polling booths.
The constituency has long been politically volatile. LDF leader M Swaraj had lost the seat in 2021 to former Congress minister K Babu by just 1,009 votes, after having captured it in 2016 during Babu’s image crisis following the bar bribery allegations.
Congress leaders visit nuns who were jailed in Chhattisgarh.
Despite contesting the local body polls under the overall guidance of Opposition Leader VD Satheesan, the UDF may now need to introspect on why Munambam slipped away.
The arrest of nuns in Chhattisgarh and the intervention by MLA Roji M John also became talking points, while the UDF effectively consolidated minority votes across Ernakulam, blunting the BJP’s wider expansion even as it made sharp, symbolic gains in select flashpoints.
Rahul Mamkoottathil, the MLA expelled from the Congress party amid controversies, including alleged sex scandals, returned to Palakkad only on Thursday to vote in the local body elections after being in hiding for 14 days.
Rahul Mamkootathil
Originally from Adoor in Pathanamthitta, he had moved to Palakkad after winning the Assembly election in December 2024.
In Palakkad, Congress narrowly won in his ward, while his old stronghold in Pathanamthitta saw his aide Fenny Nainan lose to BJP’s Pramod, and LDF’s Kavya Venu won in Mundappally, where Rahul’s family resides.
The LDF swept to victory in Palakkad’s Elappully Panchayat, handing the UDF a heavy defeat. Out of 23 wards, the LDF won 14, leaving the UDF with only four seats, while the NDA secured five.
Elappully had been a flashpoint of tensions, marked by a bitter CPI–CPM clash over a proposed private brewery in the Kanjikode Industrial Area.
Meanwhile, the BJP-led NDA retained control of Palakkad municipality for a third consecutive term, winning 25 seats. The UDF improved its tally to 17, and LDF secured eight, marking another significant boost for the BJP in a municipality it had first captured in 2015.
In Ernakulam’s Kunnathunadu, Twenty20 faced a united front of LDF and UDF, said Twenty20 Chief Coordinator Sabu M Jacob. Candidates were challenged by outsiders, leading to the loss of two panchayats. Sabu alleged that liquor and money influenced the results.
Sabu M Jacob
Despite setbacks, Twenty20 retained Aikaranad and Kizhakkambalam and won all seats in the Aikaranad panchayat.
However, they lost Vadavukod block panchayat, their only block panchayat, where UDF and LDF won five divisions each, and Twenty20 managed four.
Kottayam’s political landscape, traditionally dominated by Kerala Congress factions, saw a shake-up as former CPI(M) councillor Binu Pulickakandam, denied the municipal chairperson post, won as an independent along with his brother Biju and daughter Diya from wards 13, 14, and 15, with Congress support.
A veteran councillor for over 20 years, Binu has previously contested under the BJP, CPI(M), and independent banners.
In the 26-member Pala Municipality, the LDF won 11 seats—10 by Kerala Congress (M) and 1 by CPI(M)—matching its previous tally. The UDF secured 10 seats, including 6 for Congress, 3 for Kerala Congress, and 1 for KDP. With potential independent support, the UDF could challenge the LDF’s rule.
Notably, 24-year-old Congress candidate Riya Bino, a schoolteacher and off-roading champion, won from ward 8.
KCM leader Jose K. Mani stated he would stick with the LDF. But Congress performed strongly in Idukki and Kottayam—traditional KCM strongholds—reducing his influence in Central Travancore politics.
Speaking to South First, D. Dhanuraj, head of the Centre for Public Policy Research, said multiple issues affected Kerala, including the National Highway collapse in the northern belt.
”Though PWD Minister Muhammed Riyas blamed NHAI, people see it as a state government failure. Fund disputes with the Centre also had an impact. While states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh are securing big projects and developing industries, Kerala keeps blaming the Centre. Youth, with exposure to other states and countries, notice this anomaly,” he added.
Dhanuraj noted that without vote-share data, predicting the political future is difficult.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
