Kerala’s political landscape has been jolted by the results of the 2025 local body elections, with the United Democratic Front (UDF) emerging as the clear frontrunner in most urban centers and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) making unprecedented inroads across the state. The Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), faced a series of setbacks, most notably in Kozhikode and key urban wards, upending long-held assumptions about Kerala’s electoral map.
On December 13, 2025, after nearly six hours of intense vote counting, the results began to reveal a major shift. According to Economic Times, the UDF was leading in four out of six municipal corporations, including Kollam, Kochi, and Thrissur, and was likely to retain Kannur. The NDA, meanwhile, surged ahead in Thiruvananthapuram, the state’s capital, where the BJP’s R Sreelekha, a retired IPS officer and the first woman to join the Kerala cadre, secured a win from the Sasthamangalam division. This victory was historic—Sreelekha became the first woman Director General of Police to enter the fray and win as a BJP candidate, marking a new chapter for the party in Kerala’s urban politics.
The results in the Kozhikode Corporation were particularly striking. The sitting Deputy Mayor and CPM mayoral candidate, CP Musafar Ahamed, suffered a shock defeat in the Meenchanda ward—an area that had been redrawn after a complete delimitation. According to Mathrubhumi, Musafar, who is also the son of former Kozhikode South MLA C.P. Kunhu and a former Assembly candidate, lost to UDF’s S.K. Aboobacker, a sitting councillor from Valiyangadi. This loss was especially stinging for the LDF, which had considered the newly configured ward a prestige battle, expecting to benefit from the addition of regions where they previously held strong majorities. The BJP, which had won Meenchanda by a slim margin in the last election, was relegated to third place, while the UDF capitalized on the shifting boundaries and voter sentiment.
Statewide, the UDF’s dominance extended far beyond the major cities. As of 3:30 pm on December 13, the UDF was leading in 55 of 86 municipalities, while the LDF trailed with 28. In the 941 grama panchayats, the UDF led in 503, the LDF in 341, and the NDA in just 26, according to Economic Times. The UDF also held a slight edge in the district panchayats, leading in seven of the fourteen, with the LDF matching that number and the NDA failing to capture any. The block panchayats saw a similarly close contest, but the UDF managed to pull ahead in 78 of the 152 blocks, compared to the LDF’s 64.
One of the most talked-about results came from Thrissur, where the BJP’s only Muslim candidate in the city, Mumtaz, won the Kannankulangara ward. As reported by IANS, Mumtaz, an entrepreneur who runs a pet grooming business and has been active in the party’s Minority Morcha, defeated the Congress candidate in a ward with a clear Hindu majority. Her victory was seen as both unexpected and symbolic, highlighting the BJP’s efforts to broaden its appeal and reach across traditional party and community lines. “I have been working for the party for the past eight years. The party chose me because it felt I was capable of reaching out to the people. Whether it is my business or my personal life, I am someone who engages actively with society,” Mumtaz said, reflecting on her journey and the party’s development vision.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the NDA’s momentum was palpable. The BJP, which had come close to victory in 2020 before the LDF narrowly prevailed, now found itself leading in 16 wards, ahead of the LDF’s 14 and the UDF’s 7. The party’s president in Kerala, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, described the results as “a historical victory, for every BJP worker across the state because we have made significant strides in our vote share and political footprint... BJP and NDA have made gains in the hard core areas of LDF and UDF... This has established that the LDF is out of the picture... The option in the coming Assembly elections is between UDF and NDA.” Chandrashekhar was quick to frame the contest as a battle against “corrupt twins like the Congress and the Left,” signaling the party’s intent to position itself as the main alternative to the UDF in the 2026 Assembly elections.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, whose constituency includes Thiruvananthapuram, acknowledged the BJP’s breakthrough and congratulated the UDF for its “truly impressive” win. In a statement posted on X, he said, “I also want to acknowledge the historic performance of the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram, and offer humble congratulations on their significant victory in the city Corporation—a strong showing that marks a notable shift in the capital’s political landscape. I campaigned for a change from 45 years of LDF misrule, but the voters have ultimately rewarded another party that also sought a clear change in governance.” Tharoor added that the UDF’s result was “a massive endorsement and a powerful signal ahead of the state legislative elections. Hard work, a strong message and anti-incumbency have all clearly paid off to achieve a much better result than in 2020.”
The significance of these local body elections cannot be overstated. As Economic Times explained, Kerala’s local polls are widely seen as a bellwether for the state’s Assembly elections, with past results in 2010 and 2015 foreshadowing subsequent victories for the opposition in the 2011 and 2016 Assembly votes. The 2025 results, therefore, are likely to shape the political momentum—and perhaps the very strategies—of all three major fronts as they prepare for the next year’s high-stakes legislative contest.
The elections themselves were conducted in two phases, on December 9 and 11, across 1,199 of Kerala’s 1,200 local bodies. The lone exception, Mattannur municipality in Kannur, will hold its polls in September 2027. The oath-taking ceremonies for the newly elected panchayat members and municipal councillors are scheduled for December 21, with corporation councillors set to take their oaths an hour later.
Ultimately, the 2025 Kerala local body elections have upended conventional wisdom, setting the stage for a fiercely contested Assembly election. The UDF’s broad-based surge, the BJP’s historic breakthroughs, and the LDF’s unexpected reversals have all combined to make this one of the most consequential electoral moments in recent Kerala history.
