Kerala local body polls: After five years, Congress-led UDF romps back to power in Kochi Corporation
After a gap of five years, the United Democratic Front (UDF) returned to power as it was in a position to comfortably surpass the magic number of 39 in the 76-member Kochi Corporation.
By noon, they were ahead with 45 divisions, while the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was ahead with only 20 divisions. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead by six divisions, while the independents were ahead by five divisions. The UDF is on the verge of repeating its best performance in recent times, winning 48 seats in 2010.
Of the 38 divisions from which the results were declared, UDF won 25, LDF won 10 and BJP won three.
UDF, Fort Kochi, Kalvathy, Earaveli, Mattancherry, Karuvelippady, Gandhi Nagar, Ernakulam North, Ponekkara, Dhevankulangara, Palarivattom, Puthiya Road, Vennala, Chakkaraparambu, Chalikkavattom, Konthuruthy, South Island, Palluruthy, Karippalam, Ernakulam South, Elamakkara South, Kathrikadavu, Kaloor South, Thattazham, Vaduthala East and Edakochi South. LDF managed to win Chakkamadom, Thevara, Palluruthy East, Perumpadappu, Kadebagham, Edakochi North, Konam, Palluruthy-Kacherippady, Nambyapuram and Tharebagham divisions. The BJP retained the sitting seats in Island North, Ernakulam Central and Cheralayi.
UDF’s Antony Kureethara, who served as leader of the opposition in the previous council, lost to BJP’s T. Padmakumari in the North Island. Meanwhile, BJP’s Pravitha Vijayakumar defeated her former party colleague and six-time councilor Shyamala S. Prabhu by a significant margin of 1,593 votes. Ms Prabhu rebelled and resigned from the party to contest as an independent after being denied ticket this time.
The Congress managed to capture Gandhi Nagar and Vaduthala East, which were long considered LDF strongholds and had not been demolished for nearly five decades. While Henry Austin defeated OP Sunil in Vaduthala East by 751 votes, Nirmala Rajappan won Gandhi Nagar by narrowly defeating CPI(M)’s debutant candidate T. Mayadevi by just 20 votes. UDF’s parliamentary party secretary in the previous council, MG Aristotle, defeated two-time CPI(M) councilor KV Manoj by 678 votes and UDF’s potential mayoral candidate VK Minimol defeated R. Ratheesh by 856 votes, overcoming a challenge from Congress rebel Joseph Alex, who was contesting as an independent.
Another UDF mayoral candidate, Deepthy Mary Varghese, was also leading against LDF-backed independent George Nanatt in the newly formed Stadium division. While LDF-backed independent KJ Prakashan, who served as Congress councilor for three terms since 2000, won from the newly created Mundamveli East division, his wife Mary Calista Prakashan, a two-time councilor of NCP-SP, was also following in the neighboring Mundamveli division.
BJP’s Sunitha Dixon, who left UDF ally Revolutionary Socialist Party just before the elections, was lagging behind LDF’s Beena Divakaran in the Ponnurunni East segment.
The situation looked completely different in the first hour of counting, when the LDF looked set for a second consecutive term and had twice as many divisions as the UDF. However, the trend has slowly but surely changed with the UDF continuing to reverse the LDF leadership in multiple divisions.
It was published – 13 December 2025 12:44 IST
