Kerala local body polls: A decade of turmoil and defections for Koothattukulam municipality

The president’s tenure in Koothattukulam seems almost cursed, as no one has ever completed a full five-year term. In fact, Koothattukulam had six different mayors during the two terms spanning the 10 years since its elevation to municipal status, two of which were in the just-concluded term.

In 2015, neither the United Democratic Front (UDF) nor the Left Democratic Front (LDF) achieved a decisive majority; which meant it was effectively dominated by the two Congress rebels who won as Independents. While the UDF managed to stay in power for the first three and a half years, the LDF ruled the rest while both Independents alternated between the two parties. The UDF lost control after one of its leaders left and one of the Independents, Roy Abraham, switched allegiance to the LDF, which made him president immediately. Incidentally, Mr. Abraham is now a supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the party is yet to open its account in the civic body.

While LDF came to power with 13 members in the 25-member council in 2020, UDF won 11 seats and an Independent also won. CPI(M)’s Vijaya Sivan had a relatively smooth ride as president until party councilor Kala Raju rebelled and sent a letter to the party’s External Affairs Minister in October last year accusing the local leadership of “abandoning him in his hour of need”. She alleged that incumbent deputy mayor and CPI(M) district committee member Sunny Kuriakose forced her to “sell cheap” her house and property to clear her debts to Koothattukulam Farmers Service Cooperative Bank Ltd, where she served as president, just a month after her husband’s death during the pandemic in 2021.

‘Kidnapping’ accusation

In a dramatic turn of events, Ms. Raju was allegedly kidnapped by her party colleagues to prevent her from voting in favor of the no-confidence motion tabled by the UDF on January 18, 2025. Koothattukulam police seized the president’s official vehicle on charges that it was used in the kidnapping and detained around 40 party activists, including the president and vice-president.

Seven months later, in August, the UDF managed to unseat the LDF with another no-confidence motion as Ms. Raju defected to its camp and the lone Independent PG Sunilkumar also voted in favour. They were later appointed president and vice president.

Seat sharing opportunities

After this unenviable series of events, all three fronts are busy choosing their candidates for the upcoming elections. The municipality now has 26 neighborhoods after delimitation. In the UDF, the Congress will contest on 22 seats, while the Kerala Congress (Jacob) and Kerala Congress will contest on three and one seats respectively.

In the LDF, CPI(M) will contest on 18 seats, CPI on six, and Kerala Congress (M) and NCP on one seat each. Within the National Democratic Alliance, the BJP has decided to win 19 seats so far, while one seat has been reserved for the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena.