The counting of votes for the 2025 Kerala local body elections concluded on Saturday, delivering a landmark victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The NDA emerged as the single largest party, winning 50 out of the 101 wards and decisively ending the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) 45-year dominance over the civic body. The ruling LDF was reduced to 29 seats, while the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) secured 19.
Following the unprecedented result, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the performance as a “watershed moment” in Kerala’s politics, acknowledging the historic nature of the party’s first-ever win of a Municipal Corporation in the state.
A Major Shift in Urban Politics
The victory is widely regarded as the BJP’s most significant achievement in the current election cycle and signals a major shift in urban voter sentiment, particularly in the state capital, which is also the home turf of senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor. The breakthrough is a major boost for the NDA in Kerala, where the party has consistently struggled to translate its vote share into control of local bodies. The outcome is expected to energize the party’s cadre ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
While the UDF recorded a decisive win across most other local bodies statewide, the BJP’s capture of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was the biggest surprise of the day.