In New Delhi on 13 December, LatestNewsX reported that the results of Kerala’s local‑body elections are likely to steer campaign plans for the 2026 Assembly contest. The ruling Left coalition will confront a rebounding Congress‑led Opposition, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is emerging as a possible third contender following a high‑profile success in Thiruvananthapuram.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted in Malayalam:
“I express my gratitude to the people across Kerala who voted for BJP and NDA candidates in the state’s local body elections. Kerala is fed up of the UDF and LDF. They saw NDA as the only option that can deliver good governance and build a #VikasitaKeralam with opportunities for all,”
On the national stage, Thiruvananthapuram has been a battleground for three parties over the past three parliamentary elections. Since 2009, Congress’s Shashi Tharoor has maintained the seat, often finishing behind the Left and just ahead of the BJP. His 2014 win was tight, with BJP’s O. Rajagopal trailing by about 15 000 votes, but in 2019 the margin returned to the level seen in 2009. In the most recent contest, BJP’s Rajeev Chowdhary lost by a slim 16 000 vote margin, but his vote share swung by over 4.2 %—a shift largely at Tharoor’s expense.
Meanwhile, in the 2021 state election, the BJP failed to secure any of the seven assembly seats within this parliamentary area, although it led in three segments during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In the Thrissur constituency, BJP’s Suresh Gopi captured the seat in 2024 by a notable margin of roughly 74 700 votes, having previously finished far behind in earlier polls.
Despite lacking victories in any of the seven Vidhan Sabha units, the BJP candidate topped six of those segments in the 2024 parliamentary election. The recent Thrissur Corporation vote saw the BJP’s Muslim representative, Mumtaz, win the Kannankulangara ward, taking it from the Congress.
Overall, Kerala’s 2025 local elections revealed a strong consolidation for the BJP across village, block, district panchayats, municipalities, and corporations. Simultaneously, the Congress‑led United Democratic Front (UDF) emerged as the dominant player, securing a majority of local bodies and outpacing the state’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
At the state level, Congress and the Left remain rivals, even though both are part of the national Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The emerging picture from the local polls signals a clear anti‑incumbency shift against the LDF and a robust revival for the UDF, while the NDA steadily builds a foothold in Kerala’s political landscape.
Once the official results are declared, analysts will examine how vote transfers between UDF and NDA reshape urban versus rural wards and how outcomes in Muslim‑majority and coastal areas perform. Key questions will include whether BJP’s gains stem from broader vote swings or from fragmentation within the opposition.
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