CPI(M) confident of LDF win in Kerala local body polls after strong byelection results

CPI(M) Kerala State secretary M.V. Govindan has said the LDF won in 17 wards, garnering 44% of the total votes, in the recent local body byelections.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Friday claimed that the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) path to an emphatic win in the upcoming local body elections in Kerala has perceptibly broadened if the results of the recent byelections in 30 local body wards spanning 13 districts in the State were any measure of voter behaviour.

At a press conference at the AKG Centre, CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan said the LDF won in 17 wards, garnering 44% of the total votes. The UDF won in 12 wards, harvesting 37% of the vote share. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not win a single ward, with its vote share plummeting to 16%. 

Mr. Govindan accused the Congress of tactically voting for the “fundamentalist” Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the BJP in several wards to whittle down the LDF’s winning chances.

“In one ward, the Congress’ vote share decreased from 465 to 148. At the same time, in the same ward, the SDPI won by increasing its vote share from 363 in 2020 to 674”, he said.

In the Sreevaraham ward of Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation, Mr. Govindan said the Congress vote share went down from 408 to 277. At the same time, the BJP registered a corresponding increase.

‘Rainbow coalition’

He said the CPI(M) battled “the Congress-BJP-SDPI-Jamaat-e-Islami rainbow coalition” to retain the Sreevaraham seat by increasing its victory margin to 1,368 votes”, he said. 

Mr. Govindan said the Congress “tried the same cross-voting tack” in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and earlier in the Nemom Assembly constituency in the 2016 elections.

“The Congress’ soft-Hindutva-guided myopic attitude to secular politics caused the party to channel votes to BJP in both the polls. Now, it is courting fundamentalist SDPI and Jamaat-e-Islami votes to spite the LDF to the UDF’s peril”, he added. 

Mr. Govindan said the LDF had significantly increased its vote share even in wards the ruling alliance lost to the UDF.

He said the CPI(M)‘s emphatic win in two wards in Karunagapally municipality belied the UDF campaign that the party was fractious and in disarray in Kollam district. 

Mr. Govindan said the party viewed the LDF’s showing in the local body bypolls as a bellwether of Kerala’s voting behaviour ahead in the local body elections in 2025 and Assembly polls in 2026.