Elections in Kerala are regularly held to appoint government officials at various levels, both within the state ofKerala and inIndia as a whole. These elections encompass national elections as well as regional elections for local bodies andpanchayats.
TheKerala 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 theParliament of India. In addition, the state legislature may be dismissed by the Parliament according toArticle 356 of the Indian Constitution and President's rule may be imposed.
TheElection Commission of India (ECI) prepares the electoral rolls for elections to theParliament of India (Lok Sabha) and theKerala Legislative Assembly, and conducts these elections.
Kerala State Election Commission (SEC) prepares the electoral rolls of Panchayats, Municipalities and Municipal Corporations and conduct their elections. The State Election Commissioner is also the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission.[1]
Elections in Kerala include elections for:
Members of parliament in theLok Sabha (Lower House) fromKerala 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 thepresident of India on the advice of thecouncil of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chamber of theSansad Bhavan inNew 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 asprime minister of India.Indian General Elections in Kerala has been mainly contested between two political parties since the formation of the state. TheIndian National Congress which currently leadsUnited Democratic Front (UDF) alliance and theCommunist Party of India (Marxist) which currently leadsLeft Democratic Front (LDF) alliance. TheIndian National Congress has been in lead, 11 out of 16 election from 1957 in Kerala.
The elections for bothLok Sabha andRajya Sabha are conducted by theElection Commission of India (ECI).
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| Year | Lok Sabha Election | 1st Alliance | Seats won | 2nd Alliance | Seats won | Other parties | Seats won | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 1 | ||
| 1971 | 5th | United Front | 16 | CPI(M) | 2 | 1 | |||
| 1977 | 6th | 20 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 1980 | 7th | LDF | 12 | UDF | 8 | 0 | |||
| 1984 | 8th | UDF | 18 | LDF | 2 | 0 | |||
| 1989 | 9th | 17 | 3 | 0 | |||||
| 1991 | 10th | 15 | 5 | 0 | |||||
| 1996 | 11th | 10 | 10 | 0 | |||||
| 1998 | 12th | 11 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| 1999 | 13th | 11 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| 2004 | 14th | LDF | 18 | UDF | 1 | NDA | 1 | ||
| 2009 | 15th | UDF | 16 | LDF | 4 | 0 | |||
| 2014 | 16th | 12 | 8 | 0 | |||||
| 2019 | 17th | 19 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 2024 | 18th | 18 | 1 | NDA | 1 | ||||
Members of theKerala 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 ofKerala 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 thegovernor of Kerala on the advice of thecouncil of ministers. The house meets in the Assembly Chamber of theChief Secretariat inThiruvananthapuram 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 aschief minister of Kerala.
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State-level elections are held to fill theKerala Legislative Assembly.[3][4] The latest Assembly elections were held on 6 April 2021.[5]
| No. | Flag | Political alliance | Total days in governance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | _Logo.svg){kind=logo} | Left Democratic Front (LDF) | 9303 days | |
| 2 |  | United Democratic Front (UDF) | 7,295 days | |
The elections for local self-government institutions, such as panchayats and municipalities, are conducted by theKerala State Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional authority.
Panchayat Elections is a term widely used inKerala,India, for the polls that are held to select theLocal Self-government Representatives. There are three branches of local self-government institutions in Kerala, officially known asPanchayati Raj Institutions, responsible for rural governance. They areGrama Panchayat which can be translated as Village Government,Block Panchayat andDistrict Panchayat. A Grama Panchayat is almost an equivalent toCity administration and, Block Panchayat is for a ruralblock (which includes several gram panchayats) District Panchayat to aCounty (excludingstatutory cities and towns).
There are two more wings namelyMunicipality which is the urban local government that exists only in major towns andMunicipalCorporations that come only in six major cities. Consequent to the 73rd Amendment to theConstitution of India, the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) are to function as the third tier ofgovernment.[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 lastElection 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 |
| General elections | |
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| State elections |
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