For a quarter of a century, Kollam Corporation stood as a dependable outpost of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), its red banners signalling continuity more than contest. That arrangement has now been disrupted. In a result that marks a clear break from the past, the United Democratic Front (UDF) has wrested control of the civic body to end 25 years of uninterrupted Left rule since the corporation’s formation in 2000.

The numbers tell a decisive story. The UDF, long constrained to the margins of the council, surged past the 20-seat threshold for the first time to win 27 seats. The LDF, by contrast, saw its strength shrink to 16. Beneath this arithmetic lies a more revealing narrative. And, this narrative is shaped less by a sweeping ideological shift than by prolonged discord within the ruling alliance.

The rupture between the CPI and the CPI(M), simmering for months, became impossible to ignore. An earlier internal understanding had provided for the CPI to hold the mayor’s post in the final year of the council’s term. When the CPM mayor declined to vacate office, the disagreement escalated into a public standoff. Two CPI councillors resigned from committee positions in protest. This forced the intervention of the Left leadership. The crisis was eventually resolved with CPI leader Honey Benjamin becoming mayor. However, the damage had been done. What should have remained an internal negotiation hardened into a symbol of rift.

That sense of drift carried into the run-up to the 2025 local body elections. Seat-sharing talks reopened old wounds. The difference was particularly sharp in the decision to swap the Pattathanam and Bharanikavu divisions between the CPM and the CPI. The move provoked resistance from grassroots workers in both parties and triggered a spate of resignations from the CPI. At least 21 members walked away. In Bharanikavu, the CPI mandalam committee had already identified a woman candidate and launched the campaign. Days before the final list was announced, however, the party named a former councillor, who was previously subjected to disciplinary action, for Pattathanam. Rebel leaders alleged that district-level decisions were being taken without consulting local units. They said this deepened the sense of alienation.

UDF's unusual cohesion
The UDF, by contrast, benefited from an unusual show of cohesion. Congress leader Bindu Krishna described the victory as part of a longer political arc rather than an isolated triumph. Winning Kollam Corporation, she said, was merely a first step in preparing for the next Assembly elections. She also attributed the result to organisational discipline. In a political climate where internal dissent often spills into public view, unity itself became a campaign asset.

BJP presence
The outcome has also highlighted a third, steadily growing presence. The BJP, absent from the corporation for the first fifteen years, has expanded its footprint with each election. After opening its account with two seats in 2015, the party rose to six in 2020 and doubled that tally to 12 in the latest polls. This incremental growth has unsettled both traditional fronts, raising questions about where the Left’s lost votes eventually settled.

CPI leader and MLA P S Supal acknowledged the setback, conceding that the Left had failed to replicate its earlier performance. Votes, he said, had moved to other fronts. This benefited both the UDF and the BJP. He pointed to a broader pro-UDF mood across Kerala and suggested that Kollam reflected this wider trend. The defeat, he maintained, would be reviewed, and corrective measures would follow.

Bindu Krishna offered a different reading. While admitting that the BJP’s expansion was a concern, she argued that the sharper erosion had occurred within the CPM’s base rather than the Congress’. BJP leaders, for their part, framed the result as a beginning rather than a culmination. Talking to Onmanorama, party leader Prasanth said the aim was to replicate what he described as a “Thiruvananthapuram model” and work towards what he called a “Viksit Kollam.”

Beyond alliance politics, governance itself emerged as a quiet but persistent theme. Voters repeatedly cited stagnation in basic infrastructure. Both the Opposition and the NDA accused the LDF of squandering its long tenure without delivering visible improvements. BJP leaders went so far as to claim that even elementary civic amenities remained absent in parts of the city.

In Kollam, the result reads less like a sudden conversion than a cumulative reckoning. A divided Left, a disciplined Opposition, and a patient third force together altered the balance of a city once thought immune to change.