A victory parade organized by the district congress committee in the city after the victory of the UDF in the Kochi Corporation local body elections. | Photo credit: RK Nithin
The United Democratic Front (UDF) scored a historic victory, just as it had claimed before the census, in the Kochi Corporation by returning to power with 47 seats – just one short of its best win in the civic body in 2010 when it secured 48 seats and well above the magic number of 39 in the 76-member council.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) literally bit the dust, managing to win only 20 seats, in addition to two where it supported Independents, which was worse than its 24 seats in 2010. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to improve its tally by just one seat to six, despite claims of reaching double digits in this election. Even as the BJP fought as part of the National Democratic Alliance, all its allies, including the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, were on the draw.
The UDF tally included the Vyttila division won by UDF-backed independent vice-president Chandran, who won on a CPI(M) ticket from the erstwhile Champakkara division in 2015. If Congress rebel Bastin Babu, who won as an independent from Chullickal division, also returns to the party’s side, then the UDF will again touch the historic tally.
In the 2020 by-election, when the corporation had only 74 divisions, no front managed to secure a simple majority. The CPI(M) emerged as the single largest bloc with 34 seats, while the UDF won 31 and the BJP five. The CPI(M) managed to win power with the support of two independents.
The mayor’s post remains reserved for women this term, and all the UDF mayoral candidates — Deepthy Mary Varghese, VK Minimol and Shiny Mathew — have won. This may prove to be a challenge for the front as discussions begin to select a mayoral candidate. The UDF has consistently said that the candidate will be selected by the parliamentary party meeting, although that may be easier said than done.
The LDF accused the UDF of striking an unholy alliance with the BJP in four divisions – Elamakkara South, Kaloor North, Kunnumpuram and Ponnurunni East. Interestingly, UDF and LDF ended up sharing two seats with Elamakkara South and Kaloor North going to UDF and LDF winning the other two.
Among the prominent losers was the LDF candidate from Edappally division, Deepa Varma, who could be considered for the post of mayor if the front wins. Sunitha Dixon, who defected to the BJP after winning twice as a UDF candidate and later as an Independent, finished third behind CPI(M) winner Beena Divakaran and UDF’s Jain Gray. Malini Kurup, a three-time Congress councilor from Girinagar, who contested as an Independent after being denied a party ticket, also finished third behind winner PD Martin of the Congress and TP Sindhumol of the BJP.
UDF’s Antony Kureethara, who served as Leader of Opposition in the last council, lost to BJP’s T. Padmakumari in Island North division. Incidentally, his defeat was the first result to be announced in the Corporation.
Things looked very different in the first hour of counting when the LDF seemed to be on course for a second term as it ran away with the lead and was suddenly leading in double the number of divisions compared to the UDF. Since then, however, the trend has slowly but surely changed as the tables have continued to turn on the LDF in division after division.
Published – 14 Dec 2025 08:38 IST
