Kerala local body polls: SEC to announce schedule today; 2.84 crore voters to participate
The Kerala state is set to hold its local body elections in two phases from December 5 to 15. Roughly 2.84 crore people will vote for positions in 941 village panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 86 municipalities and six corporations.
The State Election Commission has finished all preparations and will announce the poll schedule at noon on Monday. Counting is slated for December 20, and new councils will take office by December 21 when the current term ends.
The final voter list, released on Oct 25, shows 1.33 crore men, 1.49 crore women and 271 transgender voters. Malappuram district has the most voters (35.7 lakhs) while Wayanad has the fewest (6.4 lakhs).
In the last election cycle, Kerala’s dominant Left Democratic Front (LDF) held five of the six city corporations—Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Kollam. The UDF controls the remaining corporation in Kannur. At the panchayat level, LDF runs 571 village panchayats, 113 block panchayats and 11 district panchayats. UDF governs 351 village panchayats, 38 block panchayats and three districts (Ernakulam, Wayanad, Malappuram). The NDA leads 12 village panchayats and 7 are run by independents. Among the 87 municipalities, LDF runs 44, UDF runs 41 and the BJP controls two (Palakkad and Pandalam).
These local elections are seen as a bell‑wether for the 2026 Kerala Assembly polls. They will test the LDF’s grip and the UDF’s comeback, while the BJP looks to grow its influence in urban areas.
Soon after the notification, nominations will close within a week, followed by roughly two weeks of campaigning as parties gear up for a two‑phase civic showdown.
Notably, the Congress‑led UDF surprised many by revealing its candidate lists for many wards, naming former Congress legislator K.S. Sabarinadhan as the Mayor candidate for the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The BJP, amid internal conflict with its BDJS ally, shocked voters with a lineup that includes R. Sreelekha, Kerala’s first woman Director General of Police, and former Congress star Padmini Thomas, both of whom joined the BJP to contest key seats in the state capital.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has yet to announce its slate. As Kerala heads into the local body elections, all eyes will be on how the results shape the political landscape ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.
Source: ianslive
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