Kerala Assembly Polls 2026: LDF, UDF and NDA in a no-holds barred battle for supremacy in south Kerala

The traditional big two alliances, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), and the emergent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), are locked in a no-holds-barred electoral fight in south Kerala as the clock winds down fast to the Assembly polls in the State on April 9. 

The three-pronged battle seems sharply delineated in 42 constituencies spread across Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts, with LDF and UDF focused on not yielding ground to the NDA, buoyed by the BJP’s electoral ascendancy, chiefly in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, in the 2025 local body polls. 

Both LDF and UDF are hedging against the BJP by actively courting minority votes, chiefly Muslims. The LDF and UDF wager that Muslims might resort to tactical voting to support whichever candidate they view as most likely to diminish the NDA’s chances in the south. 

The loyalties of political outfits drawing strength from their predominantly Muslim base, other than the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a steadfast UDF ally, appeared divided between the LDF and UDF. 

Notably, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has “tacitly” declared support for the LDF. The Welfare Party, the political arm of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (Kerala) [JIH], pitched for the UDF. 

In Thiruvananthapuram, particularly, the UDF has accused the LDF of striking a covert deal with the Sangh Parivar to court Hindu majoritarian votes, after the ruling fronts’ “overtures” to Muslims and Christians in the 2025 local body elections failed. 

In turn, the LDF has underscored the “Islamist ideological roots” of the JIH, chiefly in Kazhakuttam constituency, which has a sizeable Muslim population, to cast doubts about UDF’s professed secular stance. 

How the countervailing narratives of the LDF, UDF and NDA will play out in South Kerala, which has an intricate blend of Hindus, Christians and Muslims, remains a matter of hypothesis until the declaration of results on May 3. 

The LDF, UDF and NDA are fighting on profoundly contrasting electoral platforms. The NDA wants to weaken the LDF-UDF “revolving door” politics in Kerala.

Both NDA and UDF have made the Sabarimala gold theft case an electoral issue. 

The UDF is broadcasting a “need for change”, seeking to exploit the decade-long “incumbency issues weighing on” the LDF government. 

The LDF is pursuing a binary strategy. It is hard-selling its expansive social welfare net, KIFFB-funded development, and signature legislative achievement, including the law legalising the violations of assigned land, calibrated to benefit the Church-backed settler-farmer community in South Kerala’s hilly plantation localities.

In South Kerala, there appear to be several high-profile electoral battles worth staying glued to televisions and mobile phones.

In Thiruvananthapuram, perhaps the most interesting contest for election geeks is the three-way electoral battle between Education Minister V. Sivankutty [CPI(M)], the BJP State president, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Congress’s “young turk”, K. S. Sabarinadhan, in Nemom, which had witnessed a “saffron surge” leading to an NDA win in 2016. 

In Kazhakuttam, incumbent CPI(M) MLA Kadakampally Surendran is fighting hard to offset the chances of BJP leader and former Union Minister V. Muraleedharan, who has been an ubiquitous presence in the constituency since 2021, and Congress veteran T. Sarathchandra Prasad.

In Vattiyurkavu, the key question remains whether the entry of Congress veteran K. Muraleedharan and former DGP and BJP candidate, R. Sreelekha, could upstage incumbent MLA and CPI(M) leader V. K. Prasanth. Mr. Muraleedharan had won the segment in 2011 and 2016. 

Similar high-profile battles are unfolding in Pathanamthitta district, the heartland of Sabarimala lore. 

In Aranmula, CPI(M) leader and Health Minister Veena George is testing political wits with BJP leader and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan, while Congress’s Abin Varkey is seeking to thwart the LDF and NDA’s chances.

 In Kottarakkara in Kollam district, CPI(M) leader and Finance Minister K. N. .Balagopal is facing off against party defector Aisha Potty, a three-time MLA, with the BJP fielding R. Reshmi. 

In Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha district, the stakes are high for the LDF. Veteran CPI(M) dissident, G. Sudhakaran, is pitted against his erstwhile party colleague, H Salam, raising the spectre of an erosion of party votes for the ruling front. 

In Pathanampuram, Kerala Congress (B) leader and Transport Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar is battling Congress warhorse Jyothikumar Chamakkala. Notably, internal dissensions had prompted Mr. Ganesh Kumar to step down recently as the taluk union president of the Nair Service Society (NSS), which has considerable political heft in the constituency. Nevertheless, the LDF banks on Mr Ganesh Kumar’s popularity as the Transport Minister and five-term MLA. 

Published – April 04, 2026 07:40 pm IST