Kerala Congress (M) president Jose K. Mani draws his party’s election symbol on a wall in Kottayam district. | Photo credit: VISHNU PRATHAP
Few political threads in Central Travancore are tugged as often as the question of whether the Kerala Congress (M) will ever return to the United Democratic Front (UDF)-led Congress.
Now that’s a famous episode. Every time Kerala prepares for elections, Parliament or even a by-election, they start whispering. A speculative report emerges, a section of UDF leaders unwrap an open invitation and the political chatter soon picks up steam. Kerala’s political circles have been buzzing for days with talk of the homecoming of the regional party founded by KM Mani.
Then, right on cue, current party president Jose K. Mani steps in to quell the excitement and strongly deny any such move. This recurring drama, which has been replayed several times over the past five years, reveals much about the regional party’s influence on Kerala’s power equations.
Now that the state is once again on the brink of another election, all eyes are on the vote bank held by the Kerala Congress (M). Estimates show that the party polled around 6.84 lakh votes, representing 3.28% of the total vote share in the 2021 Assembly elections. In the 12-seat contest, the KC(M) won five, and beyond these constituencies it claims a support base spread across 23 others, mainly concentrated in the Catholic heartland of Central Travancore.
While these figures may have been partially boosted by the strong pro-Left wave sweeping Kerala, the party’s core strength is estimated at around 5 million votes. Unsurprisingly, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) now sees the KC(M) as a vital cog in its strategy of expansion into the traditionally anti-Left pockets of Central Travancore.
Govt. gesture
The support extended to the KC(M) by the CPI(M) leadership was unmistakable. The Pinarayi Vijayan government has recently introduced a series of legislative and policy moves that have breathed new life into the pro-farmer policies championed by the KC(M). While the Kerala Land Assignment (Amendment) Act and the Wildlife Protection (Kerala amendment) Bill brought the main boost, the increase in support price for natural rubber was the icing on the cake.
However, in its bid to expand under the CPI(M) wing, the KC(M) faced resistance not only from outside. The friction also comes from inside the left crease. The CPI, the second largest ally in the LDF, has bristled at every attempt by the regional party to project itself as the representative of the coalition.
However, these rumblings have done little to slow down the KC(M), which has carried this newfound momentum within the LDF right into the upcoming local body elections.
The party, reading signs of voter fatigue and sensing a weak anti-incumbency wave, has this time devised a strategy of fielding candidates with community roots and strong family ties in their core pockets.
While seat-sharing talks are still ongoing, the KC(M) has already secured a fairly generous share of seats in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts.
“The KC(M) has secured at least nine seats to contest the Kottayam district panchayat, which has 23 divisions. The debate is still on whether the 10th seat should go to the party nominee or a party independent,” explained a senior party leader.
Similarly, in Pathanamthitta, a consensus was reportedly reached for the allocation of 23 more seats at the block panchayat level.
Yet the party’s influence in Kerala was not uniform. Another KC(M) leader admitted that the party’s presence in the high-flying belts of Malabar remains weak.
“We have a decent base among the settler-farmer communities in Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur. But the LDF doesn’t seem too eager to recognize that strength. So far seat-sharing talks in these regions have been far from satisfactory,” he said.
Published – 14 Nov 2025 09:37 IST
