Counting of votes for the Kerala local body elections will begin at 8 am on December 13, with postal ballots opened first, followed by the counting of EVM votes. The Election Commission’s TREND software will provide real-time updates, helping voters and political parties track leads and results across all tiers of local governance. The entire election process must be completed by December 18, 2025.

Click to check live updates of election results

The Kerala Local Self-Government Department has issued a circular directing that in local bodies where the term of the governing committee ends on December 20, 2025, all newly elected members and councillors must take an oath or affirmation and assume office on December 21. For certain local bodies - all in Malappuram - whose terms do not expire on December 20, separate oath-taking dates have been fixed. 

Counting process
At the block-level centres, votes for grama panchayats, block panchayats and district panchayats will be counted, while municipalities and corporations will conduct counting at their respective institutions. Each block centre will assign one hall for the block panchayat returning officer and separate halls for grama panchayat returning officers within the same block.

Postal ballots for the grama and block panchayats will be counted at the returning officers’ tables. District-level postal ballots will be counted at collectorates. Counting of postal votes will start immediately at the returning officer’s table, after verifying that all required forms are enclosed in each envelope. Ballots received after the cut-off time will be marked as ‘received late’ and kept aside without counting.

Before EVM counting begins, the strong room will be opened in the presence of the returning officer, assistant returning officer, observers, candidates and election agents. Control units from each ward will then be moved to the counting hall.

Kerala local body election turnout
The combined voter turnout across both phases of polling stands at 73.69%, with the following gender-wise split:

• Male: 72.76%
• Female: 74.51%
• Transgender: 40.42%

District-wise voter turnout

• Thiruvananthapuram: 67.47%
• Kollam: 70.35%
• Pathanamthitta: 66.78%
• Alappuzha: 73.82%
• Kottayam: 70.86%
• Idukki: 71.78%
• Ernakulam: 74.57%
• Thrissur: 72.46%
• Palakkad: 76.27%
• Malappuram: 77.43%
• Kozhikode: 77.26%
• Wayanad: 78.3%
• Kannur: 76.77%
• Kasaragod: 74.86%

Local body elections 2020 results
In the 2020 local body elections, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) registered a strong performance, retaining dominance across most tiers of local governance.

Overall turnout: 76.2% (1.5% drop from 2015)

LDF

• Vote share: 40.2% (up 2.8%)
• Won: 514 grama panchayats, 108 block panchayats, 11 district panchayats, 35 municipalities, 5 corporations

UDF

• Vote share: 37.9% (down 0.7%)
• Won: 321 grama panchayats, 38 block panchayats, 1 district panchayat, 23 municipalities, 1 corporation

NDA

• Vote share: 15% (up 1.7%)
• Won: 19 grama panchayats, with minor gains elsewhere