Elections in Kerala are regularly held to appoint government officials at various levels, both within the state of Kerala and in India as a whole. These elections encompass national elections as well as regional elections for local bodies and panchayats.
The Kerala Assembly has the authority to enact laws concerning the conduct of local body elections independently. However, any modifications made by the state legislature to the procedures of state-level elections require approval from the Parliament of India. In addition, the state legislature may be dismissed by the Parliament according to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution and President's rule may be imposed.
State Election Commission prepares the electoral rolls of Panchayats, Municipalities and Municipal Corporation and conduct their elections. The State Election Commissioner is also the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission.[1]
Types of elections
Elections in Kerala include elections for:
- Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House)
- Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (Lower House)
- Members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly (State Assembly)
- Members of local governance bodies (municipal bodies and panchayats)
- A by-election is held when the seat-holder of a particular constituency dies, resigns, or is disqualified.
Loksabha elections
Members of parliament in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) from Kerala are directly elected by being voted upon by all adult citizens of the state from a set of candidates who stand in their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of Kerala can vote only in their constituency. Candidates who win the Lok Sabha elections are called "Members of Parliament" and hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the president of India on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chamber of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi on matters relating to the creation of new laws or removing or improving the existing laws that affect all citizens of India. Elections take place once every five years to elect 20 members from Kerala.[2] The leader of the majority party or alliance in the country takes oath as prime minister of India. Indian General Elections in Kerala has been mainly contested between two political parties since the formation of the state. The Indian National Congress which currently leads United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which currently leads Left Democratic Front (LDF) alliance. The Indian National Congress has been in lead, 10 out of 16 election from 1957 in Kerala.
The elections for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
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Party Wise Results
Alliance Wise Results
| Year | Lok Sabha Election | 1st Alliance | Seats won | 2nd Alliance | Seats won | Other parties | Seats won | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 1st | INC | 6 | RSP | 1 | TTC/Independents | 1 / 3 | ||
| 1957 | 2nd | CPI | 9 | INC | 6 | PSP/Independents | 1 / 2 | ||
| 1962 | 3rd | INC/PSP/IUML | 8 | CPI | 6 | RSP/ Independents | 1 / 3 | ||
| 1967 | 4th | United Front | 17 | INC | 1 | Independents | 2 | ||
| 1971 | 5th | United Front | 16 | CPI(M) | 2 | 1 | |||
| 1977 | 6th | 20 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 1980 | 7th | LDF | 10 | UDF | 8 | 2 | |||
| 1984 | 8th | UDF | 17 | LDF | 1 | 2 | |||
| 1989 | 9th | 17 | 3 | 0 | |||||
| 1991 | 10th | 15 | 5 | 0 | |||||
| 1996 | 11th | LDF | 10 | UDF | 10 | 0 | |||
| 1998 | 12th | UDF | 11 | LDF | 9 | 0 | |||
| 1999 | 13th | 11 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| 2004 | 14th | LDF | 18 | UDF | 1 | 1 | |||
| 2009 | 15th | UDF | 16 | LDF | 4 | 0 | |||
| 2014 | 16th | 12 | 8 | 0 | |||||
| 2019 | 17th | 19 | 1 | 0 |
State Legislative Assembly Elections
Members of the Kerala legislative assembly are directly elected by being voted upon by all adult citizens of the state from a set of candidates who stand in their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of Kerala can vote only in their constituency. Candidates who win the legislative assembly elections are called "Members of the Legislative Assembly" and hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the governor of Kerala on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Assembly Chamber of the Chief Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on matters relating to the creation of new laws or removing or improving the existing laws that affect all citizens of Kerala. Elections take place once every five years to elect 140 members to the legislative assembly. The leader of the majority party or alliance takes oath as chief minister of Kerala.
Party wise election results
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State-level elections are held to fill the Kerala Legislative Assembly.[3][4] The latest Assembly elections were held on 6 April 2021.[5]
Alliance wise results
List of political alliances of Kerala in power (1980–present)
| No. | Flag | Political alliance | Total days in governance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | _Logo.svg){kind=logo} | Left Democratic Front (LDF) | 8783 days | |
| 2 |  | United Democratic Front (UDF) | 7,295 days | |
Local Body elections
The elections for local self-government institutions, such as panchayats and municipalities, are conducted by the Kerala State Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional authority.
Panchayat Elections is a term widely used in Kerala, India, for the polls that are held to select the Local Self-government Representatives. There are three branches of local self-government institutions in Kerala, officially known as Panchayati Raj Institutions, responsible for rural governance. They are Grama Panchayat which can be translated as Village Government, Block Panchayat and District Panchayat. A Grama Panchayat is almost an equivalent to City administration and, Block Panchayat is for a rural block (which includes several gram panchayats) District Panchayat to a County (excluding statutory cities and towns).
There are two more wings namely Municipality which is the urban local government that exists only in major towns and Municipal Corporations that come only in six major cities. Consequent to the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) are to function as the third tier of government.[7]
At present, there are 1200 local governments in Kerala, which includes 941 Grama Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 87 Municipalities and 6 Municipal Corporations.[8]
The last Election to the Local Self-government Institutions in Kerala (Panchayat Elections) was held in 2020 december. The results were announced on 16 december 2020.[9] Next local body elections are scheduled to be held in 2025.[10]
| Year | Municipal Corporation Results | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | NDA | OTH | ||
| 2020 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2015 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2010 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Year | District Panchayat Results | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | NDA | OTH | ||
| 2020 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2015 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2010 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Year | Municipalities Results | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | NDA | OTH | ||
| 2020 | 43 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 87 |
| 2015 | 44 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 87 |
| 2010 | 20 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 59 |
| Year | Block Panchayat Results | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | NDA | OTH | ||
| 2020 | 108 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 152 |
| 2015 | 90 | 61 | 0 | 1 | 152 |
| Year | Gram Panchayat Results | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | NDA | OTH | ||
| 2020 | 514 | 321 | 19 | 23 | 941 |
| 2015 | 549 | 365 | 14 | 13 | 941 |