2020 Kerala local elections

Elections to local bodies (Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations) in Kerala were held in December 2020. Polling took place over 3 days; on 8, 10 and 14 December, with the votes counted and results announced on 16 December.

Left Democratic Front (LDF), who also formed the state government, won majorities in more than half of all grama panchayats, two-thirds of district panchayats and in all municipal corporations barring Kannur. United Democratic Front (UDF), led by Indian National Congress (INC), despite improving its vote share by 0.7% won just three out of fourteen district panchayats and one corporation, in comparison to seven and two respectively in the previous election in 2015. National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), increased their tally of wards won and secured a majority in two municipalities and nineteen panchayats.

Background
Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 made provisions for the creation of local bodies at the village, block and district levels. The Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994 made provisions for the creation of municipalities and corporations.

In total, the state has 1200 local self-governing bodies – 941 grama panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 87 municipalities and 6 corporations.

COVID-19 pandemic
An all-party meeting filed a plea in Kerala High Court to defer the polls, which was set for November 2020, considering the increasing COVID cases.

An ordinance by the Governor of the state, which temporarily amended Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, allowed COVID-19 quarantined patients to vote via postal ballots and increases the voting time by two hours.

Parties and coalitions
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is the coalition of left wing and far-left parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). The United Democratic Front (UDF) is a coalition consisting chiefly of centrist and centre-left parties led by the Indian National Congress. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Chellanam 20/20, a newly formed civic forum, contested in all 21 wards in Chellanam panchayat. Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam, officially a nonprofit charitable organization formed by Anna Kitex Group, fielded candidates in five panchayats, including in Kizhakkambalam where they had won in 2015. V4 Kochi, an apolitical organisation had 74 candidates contesting in all wards of Kochi Corporation. Kerala Janapaksham (Secular), led by Poonjar MLA P. C. George, contested independently in four district panchayats, four block panchayats and two grama panchayats in Kottayam district. Thiruvananthapuram Vikasana Munnettam an apolitical organisation contested in 14 wards of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

Campaign
The president of the Kerala unit of BJP K. Surendran claimed that the incumbent LDF government would face a setback in the election due to the 2020 Kerala gold smuggling case, in relation to which the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's then principal secretary was arrested by Enforcement Directorate. The opposition UDF faced several infightings, one among which an alliance partner, Kerala Congress (M), underwent a split with the faction led by Jose K. Mani joining LDF. BJP faced factionalism between some of its top leaders and the state president.

Voters and polls
Voters list for the election was published on 17 June. The final list was published on 1 October with a supplemental list published on 10 November. As the term of the current members of local bodies end on November 11, three-member administrative committees would be formed and take over administration in each local body, in accordance with Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, and the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994.

Kerala High Court dismissed petitions which alleged that reservation of local body constituencies continued for a third successive term citing that the court would not interfere in elections.

1.68 lakh candidates filed nominations to various local bodies, which was dwindled down to 74,899 candidates after the rest were either rejected or withdrawn. In total there are 34,744 polling booths; 29,321 in panchayats, 3,422 in municipalities and 2,001 in corporations.

Phase I: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki districts

Phase II: Ernakulam, Kottayam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad districts

Phase III: Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts

Popular votes
All of the three major pre-poll alliances in the state increased their vote share compared to that in the previous election.

! class="unsortable" | ! colspan="2"|Alliance ! Political party !! Votes !! Vote % !! ±pp !rowspan=12|LDF ! Left Democratic Front !8,450,430 !40.18% !2.82% !rowspan=9|UDF ! United Democratic Front !7,988,255 !37.92% !0.69% !rowspan=6|NDA ! National Democratic Alliance !3,164,454 !15.02% !1.74% !rowspan=10|Others !rowspan=2|IND ! colspan=7 | ! colspan = 4|Total ! 21,068,782 !! 100.00% !
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=12 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=12 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=12 bgcolor=""|
 * Communist Party of India (Marxist)
 * 5,628,188
 * 26.71%
 * N/A
 * Communist Party of India
 * 1,459,396
 * 6.93%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Congress (M)
 * 534,759
 * 2.54%
 * N/A
 * Loktantrik Janata Dal
 * 293,814
 * 1.40%
 * 1.40%
 * Janata Dal (Secular)
 * 175,613
 * 0.83%
 * N/A
 * Indian National League
 * 139,016
 * 0.66%
 * N/A
 * Nationalist Congress Party
 * 132,933
 * 0.63%
 * N/A
 * Congress (Secular)
 * 45,215
 * 0.21%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Congress (B)
 * 39,140
 * 0.19%
 * N/A
 * Janadhipathya Kerala Congress
 * 1,612
 * 0.01%
 * 0.01%
 * Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas)
 * 744
 * 0.00%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=9 bgcolor=""|
 * 0.21%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Congress (B)
 * 39,140
 * 0.19%
 * N/A
 * Janadhipathya Kerala Congress
 * 1,612
 * 0.01%
 * 0.01%
 * Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas)
 * 744
 * 0.00%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=9 bgcolor=""|
 * Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas)
 * 744
 * 0.00%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=9 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=9 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=9 bgcolor=""|
 * Indian National Congress
 * 5,327,605
 * 25.29%
 * N/A
 * Indian Union Muslim League
 * 1,909,729
 * 9.06%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Congress (Joseph)
 * 419,049
 * 1.99%
 * 1.99%
 * Revolutionary Socialist Party
 * 171,483
 * 0.82%
 * N/A
 * Communist Marxist Party (John)
 * 80,304
 * 0.38%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Congress (Jacob)
 * 48,448
 * 0.23%
 * N/A
 * All India Forward Bloc
 * 19,174
 * 0.09%
 * N/A
 * Bharatiya National Janata Dal
 * 12,463
 * 0.06%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=6 bgcolor=""|
 * 0.23%
 * N/A
 * All India Forward Bloc
 * 19,174
 * 0.09%
 * N/A
 * Bharatiya National Janata Dal
 * 12,463
 * 0.06%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=6 bgcolor=""|
 * 0.06%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=6 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=6 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=6 bgcolor=""|
 * Bharatiya Janata Party
 * 3,118,249
 * 14.80%
 * N/A
 * Bharath Dharma Jana Sena
 * 26,336
 * 0.13%
 * 0.13%
 * Kerala Kamaraj Congress
 * 14,358
 * 0.07%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Congress (Thomas)
 * 4,975
 * 0.02%
 * N/A
 * Lok Janshakti Party
 * 536
 * 0.00%
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=10 bgcolor=""|
 * 4,975
 * 0.02%
 * N/A
 * Lok Janshakti Party
 * 536
 * 0.00%
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=10 bgcolor=""|
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=10 bgcolor=""|
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=10 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=10 bgcolor=""|
 * Social Democratic Party of India
 * 132,423
 * 0.63%
 * N/A
 * Twenty 20
 * 41,845
 * 0.20%
 * N/A
 * Bahujan Samaj Party
 * 36,284
 * 0.17%
 * N/A
 * Welfare Party of India
 * 32,630
 * 0.15%
 * N/A
 * Kerala Janapaksham (Secular)
 * 27,995
 * 0.13%
 * N/A
 * Peoples Democratic Party
 * 26,223
 * 0.12%
 * N/A
 * Revolutionary Marxist Party of India
 * 24,899
 * 0.12%
 * N/A
 * Aam Aadmi Party
 * 10,539
 * 0.05%
 * N/A
 * Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy
 * 2,140
 * 0.01%
 * N/A
 * Marxist-Leninist Party of India (Red Flag)
 * 2,055
 * 0.01%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=2 bgcolor=""|
 * Aam Aadmi Party
 * 10,539
 * 0.05%
 * N/A
 * Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy
 * 2,140
 * 0.01%
 * N/A
 * Marxist-Leninist Party of India (Red Flag)
 * 2,055
 * 0.01%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=2 bgcolor=""|
 * 2,055
 * 0.01%
 * N/A
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=2 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=2 bgcolor=""|
 * rowspan=2 bgcolor=""|
 * Independents
 * 1,206,878
 * 5.73%
 * N/A
 * 5.73%
 * N/A
 * - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * }

Result analysis
All of the three major pre-poll alliances, LDF, UDF, and NDA, improved their vote share compared to that in the previous election. The result showed popular support in favour of LDF led government, led by Pinarayi Vijayan. Jose K. Mani faction of Kerala Congress (M), which left UDF to join LDF, performed well in traditional UDF strongholds in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts. UDF improved its position in the districts of Ernakulam and Malappuram.

Reactions
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hailed his alliance's victory as that of secularism and inclusive development, while remarking that the results were a befitting reply to UDF and BJP. Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said that UDF voter base was intact highlighting that they had won more municipalities and mentioned that he would introspect into their poor performance in Thiruvananthapuram corporation. BJP national president J. P. Nadda and state president K. Surendran thanked the voters for providing an improved mandate to their party in the election

TREND software error
The final results of a few panchayats and municipalities were changed due to an error in the TREND software, which was used for displaying election results, as per the State Election Commission. This meant that the lead UDF had over LDF in municipalities was cut from 10 municipalities to 4. The Election Commission published the results in its official website after rectifying the error.

Post-election incidents
LDF won control in 43 municipalities, UDF in 41 and BJP in 2 municipalities. In Kalamassery municipality, UDF won control of the municipality by drawing lots, as both they and LDF had equal backing in the administrative council. LDF also controls 11 district panchayats, while UDF got the remaining 3. The latter assumed control of Wayanad district panchayat after drawing lots.

21 year old Arya Rajendran became the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram corporation, thereby becoming the youngest ever mayor of a municipal corporation in India.

Reshma Mariam Roy, who was the youngest candidate in the elections, became the youngest ever president of a panchayat in Kerala at 21 years old after being elected as the president of Aruvappulam Grama panchayat in Pathanamthitta. She had filed her nomination on November 18, days before she turned 21.