More than 7,200 women from Kudumbashree crossed the finish line to win the recent local body elections in Kerala.
Of the 17,082 members of the Women’s Empowerment and Poverty Eradication Network who contested the elections this time, 7,210 won, representing a success rate of over 42%. This is proof of why political parties time and again select candidates with the best chance of winning the polls from the vast pool of Kudumbashree.
In the 2020 elections, 7,058 Kudumbashree women were elected to power.
District winners
This time, Kozhikode had the highest number of winners — 709. Malappuram was close behind with 697 winning candidates. Four other districts have sent more than 600 Kudumbashree women to local bodies – Alappuzha (643), Kannur (621), Palakkad (635) and Thrissur (652).
The least successful Kudumbashree women were in Pathanamthitta (272). Wayanad had four more for 276.
The top winners were members of the Kudumbashree Neighborhood Group (NHG) – 5,436. Other successful candidates include Kudumbashree Community Development Society (CDS) chairmen (111), vice-chairmen (67), CDS members (724) and Area Development Society (ADS) executive members (791). As many as 107 members of the relief group representing the young women of Kudumbashree in the age group of 18-40 years also registered victory.
The largest number of victorious Kudumbashree women were elected to grama panchayats — 5,836. As many as 487 Kudumbashree women were elected to block panchayats, 88 to district panchayats, 757 to municipalities and 45 to corporations.
Thirteen of the 35 Kudumbashree candidates under the Attappady Special Project also tasted success. Twelve of them were NHG members and one was a CDS member. Ten were elected to grama panchayats and three to block panchayats.
In the 2015 elections, 52% of the Kudumbashree women who contested were elected to local bodies.
Published – 18 Dec 2025 17:29 IST
