Politics of Kerala

Political System of Kerala
Coat of arms of Kerala
Polity type	Democratic, Parliamentary system
Constitution	Constitution of India
Formation	1950
Legislative branch
Name	Kerala Legislative Assembly
Type	Unicameral
Meeting place	Assembly Building
Presiding officer	A. N. Shamseer, Speaker
Executive branch
Head of state
Title	Governor
Currently	Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar
Appointer	President of India (on the recommendation of Union Government of India)
Head of government
Title	Chief Minister
Currently	Pinarayi Vijayan
Appointer	Governor
Cabinet
Name	Kerala Council of Ministers
Current cabinet	Second Vijayan ministry
Leader	Chief Minister
Appointer	Governor
Headquarters	Kerala Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram
Ministries	44
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of India
Kerala High Court
Chief judge	Nitin Madhukar Jamdar
Seat	Kochi
Civil service branch
Name	All India Services State Civil Services

Kerala is an Indian state, where federal legislative power is vested in the unicameral Kerala Legislative Assembly. The multilateral system has, since 1956, been dominated by the several pre-poll and post-poll alliances.

The judiciary of Kerala is independent of the executive and the legislature, while it is common for leading members of the executive (Kerala Council of Ministers) to be members of the legislature as well. The political system is laid out in the Constitution of India (1950).

Legislative Assembly has a membership of 141, where 140 are elected and one is nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. Kerala has 20 seats in the Lok Sabha (Indian Lower House) and nine seats in the Rajya Sabha (the Council of States). Elections are also held to choose representatives to the civic bodies at various levels within Kerala.

Political parties

Main article: Political parties in Kerala

Alliances

Sl No	Alliance Name	Flag	Current Status
1	Left Democratic Front (LDF)		Government
2	United Democratic Front (UDF)		Opposition
3	National Democratic Alliance ( NDA )		None

National parties

Sl No	Party Name	Symbol	Alliance	Current Status
1	Communist Party of India (Marxist)		LDF	Government
2	Indian National Congress		UDF	Opposition
3	Bharatiya Janata Party		NDA	None

Recognised State Parties

Sr No	Party Name	Symbol	Alliance
1	Communist Party of India (PWA)		Left Democratic Front
2	Kerala Congress (M)
3	Janata Dal (Secular)
4	Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)
5	Indian Union Muslim League		United Democratic Front
6	Revolutionary Socialist Party

Electoral history

Main article: Elections in Kerala

1st cabinet ministry of Kerala led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1957)

Kerala Council of Ministers under P. K. Vasudevan Nair (1978)

Results for the Kerala Legislative Assembly (from 1957) have been:

(Source)

Mandate	Seats secured			Ruling Coalition(s)
	CPI+	INC+
1957	65 [1]	43 [2]	CPI+
1960	29 [2]	95 [2]	INC+

Mandate	Seats secured		Ruling Coalition(s)
	CPI(M)	INC+
1965	40	36	No Government Formed
1967	117	9	CPI(M)+

Mandate	Seats secured			Ruling Coalition(s)
	CPI(M)+	CPI	INC
1970	29 [3]	16	30	CPI+INC
1977	29 [3]	23 [3]	38	CPI+INC

Mandate	Seats secured			Ruling Coalition	Majority
	LDF	UDF	Others
1980	93	46	1	LDF	47
1982	63	77	0	UDF	14
1987	78	61	1	LDF	17
1991	48	90	2	UDF	40
1996	80	59	1	LDF	21
2001	40	99	1	UDF	59
2006	98	42	0	LDF	56
2011	68	72	0	UDF	04
2016	91	47	2	LDF	44
2021	99	41	0	LDF	58

Current administrative structure by alliance

Current administrative structure by alliance in Kerala
National Constituencies	Total	LDF	UDF	Others
Lok Sabha constituencies	20	1	18	1
State Constituencies	Total	LDF	UDF	Others
Legislative assembly constituencies	140	98	41	0
Local self-government body	Total	LDF	UDF	Others
Municipal Corporations	6	4	2	0
District Panchayats	14	11	3	0
Municipalities	87	43	41	2
Block Panchayats	152	90	61	0
Grama Panchayats	941	549	365	27

Popular vote

E. M. S. Namboodiripad, CPI (first Chief Minister of Kerala, 1957- 59)

1957 Assembly elections		2021 Assembly elections
Parties	Popular vote %	Parties	Popular vote %
Indian National Congress (INC)	37.84	Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM)	25.4
Communist Party of India (CPI)	35.28	Indian National Congress (INC)	25.1
Praja Socialist Party (PSP)	10.76	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	15.50
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)	3.22	Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)	8.3
		Communist Party of India (CPI)	7.6
		Kerala Congress (Mani) (KCM)	3.3
		Kerala Congress (KEC)	2.7

Ideologies

Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief minister of Kerala

Left-wing/center-left politics

The general socio-political thought and behavior of the Keralite population inclines strongly toward left-wing and center-left groups, as such, communist (Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist)) parties have made strong inroads across the state for decades. ^[4] In fact, Kerala is the first autonomous polity in Asia and only second in the world to have democratically elected a fully communist-led (Communist Party of India) government into power, ^[4] with the first-ever being San Marino, a microstate enclaved by Italy.

Northern Kerala, particularly the districts of Kannur and Palakkad, is generally considered the heartland of communist support. The districts of Kollam and Alappuzha also generally inclined towards left-wing or center-left parties, even though the United Democratic Front have won elections from the constituencies of these districts several times. ^[4]

Some parties like Communist Marxist Party, Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy and the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India also represent left-wing politics in the state.

Congress politics

Indian National Congress leads the United Democratic Front pre-poll alliance in Kerala. The alliance was created by the Congress (then known as Congress-Indira) party leader K. Karunakaran in 1978. ^[5] Since the 1980s, it has sustained itself as the front to take on the Communist Party of India Marxist-led Left Democratic Front.

The alliance first came into power in Kerala in 1981 under K. Karunakaran. It led the Kerala government in 1981 - 82 (Karunakaran), 1982 - 87 (Karunakaran), 1991 - 96 (Karunakaran and A. K. Antony), 2001 - 06 (Antony and Oommen Chandy) and 2011 - 16 (Chandy).

The party has strong bases in Ernakulam and Kottayam regions of central Kerala.

The Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar and Congress (S) are other parties which holds the Congress politics. Both of them were split from Indian National Congress, and now form allies of LDF. The Kerala Congress factions also have their origin in a split which occurred in Indian National Congress in the year 1964. DIC(K) was another party formed by raising Congress politics in Kerala, but was later dissolved.

Communitarian politics

Indian Union Muslim League is a major member of the United Democratic Front. Indian Union Muslim League first gained a ministry in Kerala Government as part of a Communist Party of India Marxist-led alliance in the late 1960s. The party later switched fronts and formed an alliance with the Congress. It later became a chief constituent in a succession of Indian National Congress-lead ministries.

The party has strong bases in Malappuram District in central Kerala. The party is also strong in the northern belts of Kasaragod district and the southern parts of Kozhikode district in Northern Kerala.

Kerala Congress, which has several factions in United Democratic Front and Left Democratic Front, has strong influence in central Kerala. The various Kerala Congress factions are primarily patronized by Syrian Christian community mostly in areas like Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Muvattupuzha.

Right-wing politics

Right-wing politics in Kerala is represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP got their first seat in the Kerala legislative assembly in 2016. The BJP failed to win a seat in the 2021 elections. But won 1 seat in the 2024 elections.

Coalition politics

First Council of Ministers, EMS Namboothiripad Ministry

Second Council of Ministers

A. K. Antony, K. Karunakaran, K. M. Mani and C. H. Muhammed Koya

The current politics in Kerala is largely dominated by two pre-poll alliances

• Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and
• Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF)

The two alliances have been alternatively voted to power in Kerala since 1980 till 2021 (from the First E. K. Nayanar ministry and until First Pinarayi Vijayan ministry).

The pre-poll political alliances of Kerala have stabilized strongly in such a manner that, with rare exceptions, most of the coalition partners stick their loyalty to the respective alliances (Left Democratic Front or United Democratic Front). As a result of this, ever since 1979, the power has been clearly alternating between the two alliances without any exceptions, until this spell was broken in the 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election. ^[6]

However, till then the political scenario in Kerala (1957 - 1980) was characterized by continually shifting alliances, party mergers and splits, factionalism within the coalitions and within political parties, and the formation of a numerous splinter groups. ^[7] In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two main pre-poll political alliances were formed: the Left Democratic Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India and the United Democratic Front, led by the Indian National Congress. ^[7]

Since the early 1980s these two pre-poll political alliances have alternated in government with neither able to gain re-election for a second term. Clashes between supporters of the two coalitions have occurred periodically. Both have accused the other of corruption, promoting or condoning political violence, and "the general breakdown of law and order" during their periods in government. ^[7]

Mandate	Ministry No.	Ruling Coalition Name
2021	23	LDF
2016	22	LDF
2011	21	UDF
2006	20	LDF
2001	19	UDF
	18
1996	17	LDF
1991	16	UDF
	15
1987	14	LDF
1982	13	UDF
1980	12
	11	LDF
1977	10	—
	9
	8
	7
1970	6
1967	5
	4
1965		No ministry formed
1960	3	—
	2
1957	1

Student politics

Student politics in Kerala is highly active and influential, unlike in many other Indian states where it has declined. Most student organizations are linked to major political parties and there are student political alliances as well, such as the United Democratic Students Front (UDSF), which includes KSU and MSF.

Below is the list of active students parties in Kerala:

Student Political Parties in Kerala

Name of the Student Organization	Year of Establishment	Political Affiliation
Students' Federation of India (SFI)	1970	Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M)
Kerala Students Union (KSU)	1957	Indian National Congress – INC
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)	1949 (Nationally)	Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – RSS / Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP
All India Students Federation (AISF)	1936 (Nationally)	Communist Party of India – CPI
Muslim Students Federation (MSF)	1937	Indian Union Muslim League – IUML
Fraternity Movement	2011	Welfare Party of India /

2021 Assembly elections

LDF	Seats	UDF	Seats
CPI(M)	62	INC	21
CPI	17	IUML	15
LDF Independent	5	KEC	2
KC(M)	5	KC(J)	1
JD(S)	2	RMPI	1
NCP	2	UDF Independent	1
C(S)	1	RSP	0
KC(B)	1	CMP	0
NSC	1
INL	1
JKC	1
LJD	1
INL	0
LDF	99	UDF	41

Parties	Popular vote		Seats
	Votes	%	Candidates	Won
Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM)	5,288,502	25.4	77	62
Indian National Congress (INC)	5,233,429	25.1	93	21
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	2,354,468	11.3	113	0
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)	1,723,593	8.3	25	15
Communist Party of India (CPI)	1,579,235	7.6	23	17
Kerala Congress (Mani) (KCM)	684,363	3.3	12	5
Kerala Congress (KEC)	554,115	2.7	10	2

See also

• Political parties in Kerala
• Communist Party of India (Marxist), Kerala

References

1. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF KERALA. New Delhi: Election Commission of India. p. 7.
2. DC Books, Kottayam, Kerala Charithram, A. Shreedhara Menon, P.367-369
3. "History of Kerala Legislature". Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
4. Snapshots - India's final voting day BBC News
5. Who was K Karunakaran? – NDTV
6. "Rewriting history: Pinarayi Vijayan breaks 4-decade-old political trend in Kerala". The News Minute. 2 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
7. "India". Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal. 19 March 2007. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2019– via archive.is.

Further reading

• Chief Ministers, Ministers, and Leaders of Opposition of Kerala (PDF), Thiruvananthapuram: Secratriat of Kerala Legislature, 2018
• Chandran, VP (2018). Mathrubhumi Yearbook Plus - 2019 (Malayalam ed.). Kozhikode: P. V. Chandran, Managing Editor, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Company Limited, Kozhikode.
• Menon, A. Sreedhara (2007). A Survey of Kerala History. DC Books. ISBN   9788126415786.