Twenty20, the political party backed by Kitex Group in Ernakulam's Kizhakambalam panchayat, is betting big on the 2025 local body elections. It will contest in all the wards of Kochi Corporation in the upcoming local body elections. Also, the party will contest in 5 out of the 13 municipalities in Ernakulam - Tripunithura, Thrikkakara, Maradu, Aluva and Piravom. The groundwork has already begun with the campaign being launched at the grassroots level. 

It is the first time the party, which was founded in 2015, is contesting in the corporation and municipalities. In the 2020 local body polls, Twenty20 contested in many panchayats in Ernakulam and came into power in four - Kunnathunad, Kizhakambalam, Mazhuvannur and Aikaranad. The main aim of contesting more seats in the local body polls is to expand the party's presence in the 2026 Assembly elections. 

Twenty20 coordinator Sabu M Jacob told Onmanorama that the party will contest in all seats in whichever local bodies they have selected for the local body polls. Apart from this, Twenty20 will contest in 60 panchayats across nine districts in the state. Twenty20 will go solo in all seats and confirmed that there won't be any alliance with any other political parties. 

“We will contest in four panchayats in Kollam's Pathanapuram region. We will contest in Palakkad's Muthalamada. Similarly, we have identified several other panchayats in Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram, and Ernakulam, where we have a chance to win. We see LSG polls as a crucial step to expand our contests in the 2026 Assembly. We plan to contest in many assembly seats outside the Ernakulam district this time, unlike the 2020 polls. Our aim is to come to power in maximum civic bodies instead of simply contesting or winning,” Jacob said. 

Jacob added that they will be contesting in the local bodies in assembly constituencies like Ernakulam, Perumbavoor, Kunnathunad, Muvattupuzha, Tripunithura, Kochi, Vypeen, Thrikkakara and Angamaly. 

The party has already started district committees in nine districts where they are planning to contest. Jacob said that although North Kerala is not currently in the party's expansion plans, they are focusing on Wayanad, where a district committee will be formed.  

When asked how the party is gathering funds to contest in more seats, Jacob said they have already started crowdfunding. “We depend on public contributions for our funding. The issues we are highlighting in our campaigns are mainly corruption and development,” he said.

The Twenty20 collective, which swept the wards in Kizhakkambalam in the 2015 local body elections, gave a rude shock to the Congress and the CPM. Though Twenty20 had fielded candidates in selected constituencies during the assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections, it couldn't make significant gains.