The BJP-led NDA made an unexpected inroads in the Kerala civic body polls in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation on Saturday wresting it from the CPI(M)-led LDF. Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the mandate received by the BJP-led NDA in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation a “watershed moment” in Kerala’s politics and expressed gratitude to the BJP workers for the “spectacular results”.
Congress-led UDF secured a decisive victory in Kerala’s local body elections, dealing a blow to the LDF while the BJP wrested the State capital civic body from decades of Left control. While Congress leaders expressed gratitude to the people of Kerala for giving the UDF a “decisive” mandate, its MP Shashi Tharoor also congratulated the BJP for its “historic performance” in the city corporation in his Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency after BJP won 50 out of 101 seats, ending the CPI(M)-led LDF’s 45-year reign in the local body.
The BJP’s win in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has come as a morale booster for the party which is preparing itself for the 2026 Assembly polls. Of the 101 wards in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the BJP won 50, LDF 29, UDF 19 and two by independent candidates. With this victory it is being speculated BJP will install its first Mayor in Kerala, with the State’s first woman IPS officer, 64 year-old R Sreelekha being tipped for the post.
PM Modi said it is a day to recall the work and struggles of generations of karyakartas (workers) in Kerala, who worked at the grassroots, which ensured today’s result became a reality. “Thank you Thiruvananthapuram! The mandate the BJP-NDA got in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation is a watershed moment in Kerala’s politics,” Modi remarked on social media.
While the NDA won the Thiruvananthapura corporation, the UDF increased its seats in the local body as compared to the 2020 polls. This year, the UDF also won 54 of the 87 municipalities, 4 of the 6 corporations, and was significantly ahead in the village, block, and district panchayat segments till the reports last filed. In the 2020 civic polls, it had won a total of 7757 wards in the grama, block, district panchayats, municipality and corporation put together.
This time it holds a commanding lead in the three-tier panchayat system, leading in 8,020 of the 17,337 grama panchayat wards, 1,241 of the 2,267 block panchayat wards, and 195 of the 346 district panchayat wards.
