LDF workers celebrate victory in Chavakkad village on Saturday. | Photo credit: KK Najeeb
The people’s mandate in the hotly contested 2025 district panchayat elections in Kerala has turned out to be a clear wake-up call for the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) ahead of next year’s parliamentary polls. The results in the district panchayat polls are believed to show how the political wind is blowing in the state.
The results of the 14 district panchayats in Kerala gave cause for cheering for the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) but came as a shock to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). Both the fronts won seven district panchayats each (as of 7.30 pm on Saturday). LDF won 11 district panchayats in 2020.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which had won three district panchayat seats in 2020 (two seats from the BJP in Kasaragod), could win only one seat this time. Twenty20, the Kitex Group-backed political group in Ernakulam, which grabbed headlines in the 2020 elections by winning four grama panchayats and two district panchayat divisions, failed to retain its district panchayat divisions this time as well. The worst was the defeat faced by the LDF in Malappuram, with the UDF sweeping all 33 seats in the Malappuram panchayat district.
The results also shed light on changing considerations of community and social engineering by the major political parties. For example, the district panchayats where the LDF suffered the worst defeats had significant populations of minority communities. According to political commentators, the verdict also signals a realignment of minority votes in favor of the UDF in at least some parts of the state, in line with the last parliamentary elections.
“Shock for LDF”
Speaking to The Hindu, political commentator NM Pearson said it was a clear shock to the LDF compared to the verdict of the district panchayat polls in 2020. However, this cannot be taken as an indicator of the assembly elections scheduled in a few months, he said.
It will be more appropriate to compare the current electoral mandate with the results of the 2010 elections, as the verdicts were similar, he said. The UDF then won eight district panchayats and more grama panchayats (540 out of 978), block panchayats and municipalities than the LDF. However, the UDF could only get a slim majority in the assembly elections, despite the apparent conflict in the LDF camp, he said.
In 2016, the LDF secured a comfortable majority in the assembly elections, despite both the fronts winning seven district panchayats each in the 2015 local elections. Hence, this victory is only a morale booster for the UDF camp and should not write off the LDF in the upcoming assembly elections, Mr. Pearson said.
Published – 13 Dec 2025 23:51 IST
