Kerala local body election results have begun indicating a shift in political momentum from the CPI(M)-led LDF to the Congress-led UDF, as early counting trends suggest a wave favouring the UDF across urban and rural centres, while the BJP-led NDA has recorded selective but significant gains, particularly in Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, and smaller parties such as the Welfare Party and the SDPI have managed to marginally improve their presence in several local bodies.
According to early trends available on Saturday, the UDF has taken the lead in both municipal bodies and the three-tier rural local self-government institutions, thereby signalling a broad-based recovery after nearly a decade in Opposition at the state level.
The Congress-led front is leading in four of the six municipal corporations and has secured an advantage in 49 of the 87 municipalities, compared to the LDF’s lead in 30, indicating erosion in the Left’s urban base. In the rural segment, the UDF is ahead in eight of the 14 district panchayats, while the LDF is leading in six, marking a sharp contrast to the 2020 local body elections when the Left had captured 11 district panchayats.
As the UDF is leading in 368 of the 941 gram panchayats, narrowly ahead of the LDF’s 359, even though village panchayats had long remained a Left bastion. The NDA, which had won 23 gram panchayats in 2020, has improved its tally and is leading in 36 panchayats this time, reflecting incremental consolidation rather than a statewide surge.
The BJP’s performance in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation has emerged as one of the most striking developments of the election, as the party is leading in a civic body that had been governed by the LDF for nearly four decades, potentially marking the BJP’s first control of a municipal corporation in Kerala.
However, its gains elsewhere remain limited, with the NDA leading in only one municipality, compared to two in the previous election, despite contesting a record number of seats.
Smaller political formations such as the Welfare Party and the SDPI, which had fielded candidates either independently or under different electoral arrangements in select wards, have managed to register modest gains at the ward and panchayat levels.
The emerging results are expected to boost the morale of the UDF ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for April 2026, while the LDF’s inability to replicate its local body dominance of 2015 and 2020 suggests growing challenges, even as welfare measures and governance claims formed the backbone of its campaign.