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Opposing fronts are dusting off their neighbourhood-level campaign playbooks, including analysing voting patterns from past elections, to expeditiously streamline ward-specific winning strategies in the run-up to the two-phase local body elections in Kerala on December 9 and 11. The three-cornered contest appears wide open, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]-led ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Front (NDA) alliance poised to joust for ascendancy at the hustings. The UDF and the NDA have sought to steal a march on the LDF, at least in Thiruvananthapuram, by announcing their candidates early. Caste, community, and age calculus, along with local acceptance, appeared to have informed the selection of candidates by the three fronts. The UDF and the LDF, the two mainstream alliances, believe that the defining local body poll battles will unfold primarily between the ruling front and the Opposition, with the NDA acting as a disruptive and potent third force. Provincial neighbourhood and national issues, including the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voters’ list, are likely to figure in what portends to be a high-octane election campaign season. The stakes are considerably high for the battling alliances. The LDF is under duress to secure the maximum number of local bodies, given the polls’ importance as the first post-Lok Sabha (2024) indicator of how the ruling coalition is performing in government. The LDF has seemingly placed its electoral hopes on big-ticket infrastructure projects and expanded social welfare net, including the ongoing LIFE Mission Housing scheme for homeless families. The recent declaration of erasing extreme poverty, it believes, will stand it in good stead. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan said bolstering the LDF’s position in local bodies in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, and Kannur districts was a priority. Shut out of power for two consecutive terms, the Congress reckons the local body elections as an existential political battle. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, MLA, said the anti-incumbency anger against the LDF was palpable. He said the LDF had systematically whittled down allocations to local bodies. “Civic works have ground to a halt. Public health system is in tatters,” he added. For a big splash Seemingly buoyed by its win in the Lok Sabha elections in Thrissur in 2024 and the considerable inroads the BJP made into traditional LDF and UDF strongholds, notably in Alappuzha, the NDA hopes to make a big splash in the local body polls. BJP State president Rajiv Chandrasekhar said the NDA hopes to cash in on the momentum, which, he said, reflects the people’s desire to end the UDF-LDF “revolving-door” politics in the State. “The people are manifestly inclined to grant the NDA an innings in governance to show our mettle,” he added.
