Elections in Kerala
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Elections in Kerala are regularly held to appoint government officials at various levels, both within the state of Kerala and in India as a whole. These elections encompass national elections as well as regional elections for local bodies and panchayats.
The Kerala 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 the Parliament of India. In addition, the state legislature may be dismissed by the Parliament according to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution and President's rule may be imposed.
State Election Commission prepares the electoral rolls of Panchayats, Municipalities and Municipal Corporation and conduct their elections. The State Election Commissioner is also the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission.[1]
Types of elections
Elections in Kerala include elections for:
- Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House)
- Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (Lower House)
- Members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly (State Assembly)
- Members of local governance bodies (municipal bodies and panchayats)
- A by-election is held when the seat-holder of a particular constituency dies, resigns, or is disqualified.
Loksabha elections
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Members of parliament in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) from Kerala 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 the president of India on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chamber of the Sansad Bhavan in New 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 as prime minister of India. Indian General Elections in Kerala has been mainly contested between two political parties since the formation of the state. The Indian National Congress which currently leads United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which currently leads Left Democratic Front (LDF) alliance. The Indian National Congress has been in lead, 11 out of 16 election from 1957 in Kerala.
The elections for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
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Party Wise Results
Lok Sabha | Election Year | 1st Party | 2nd Party | 3rd Party | 4th Party | Others | Total Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2nd Lok Sabha | 1957 | CPI 9 | INC 6 | PSP 1 | Ind 2 | 18 | |||||
3rd Lok Sabha | 1962 | CPI 6 | INC 5 | IUML 2 | RSP 1 | Ind 3 | 17 | ||||
4th Lok Sabha | 1967 | CPI(M) 9 | CPI 3 | SSP 3 | IUML 2 | INC 1, Ind 1 | 19 | ||||
5th Lok Sabha | 1971 | INC(R) 6 | CPI 3 | KC 3 | CPI(M) 2 | RSP 2, IUML 2, Ind 1 | 19 | ||||
6th Lok Sabha | 1977 | INC 9 | CPI 4 | IUML 2 | KC 2 | IC (S) 1, RSP 1 | 19 | ||||
7th Lok Sabha | 1980 | CPI(M) 6 | INC (I) 4 | INC (U) 3 | CPI 2 | IUML 2, KC 2, Ind 1 | 20 | ||||
8th Lok Sabha | 1984 | INC 13 | KC (J) 2 | IUML 2 | CPI(M) 1 | IC (S) 1, JP 1, | 20 | ||||
9th Lok Sabha | 1989 | INC 14 | CPI(M) 2 | IUML 2 | KC (M) 1 | IC (S) 1 | 20 | ||||
10th Lok Sabha | 1991 | INC 13 | CPI(M) 3 | IUML 2 | KC (M) 1 | IC (S) 1 | 20 | ||||
11th Lok Sabha | 1996 | INC 7 | CPI(M) 5 | CPI 2 | IUML 2 | JD 1, KC (M) 1, RSP 1, Ind 1 | 20 | ||||
12th Lok Sabha | 1998 | INC 8 | CPI(M) 4 | CPI 2 | IUML 2 | KC (M) 1, RSP 1, Ind 2 | 20 | ||||
13th Lok Sabha | 1999 | INC 8 | CPI(M) 4 | IUML 2 | KC(M) 1 | KC 1 | 20 | ||||
14th Lok Sabha | 2004 | CPI(M) 12 | CPI 3 | IUML 1 | KC(J) 1 | IFDP 1, JD(S) 1, Ind 1 | 20 | ||||
15th Lok Sabha | 2009 | INC 13 | CPI(M) 4 | IUML 2 | KC(M) 1 | – | 20 | ||||
16th Lok Sabha | 2014 | INC 8 | CPI(M) 7 | IUML 2 | CPI 1 | KC 1, RSP 1 | 20 | ||||
17th Lok Sabha | 2019 | INC 15 | IUML 2 | CPI(M) 1 | RSP 1 | KC(M) 1 | 20 | ||||
18th Lok Sabha | 2024 | INC 14 | IUML 2 | CPI(M) 1 | BJP 1 | RSP 1, KC 1 | 20 |
Alliance Wise Results
Year | Lok Sabha Election | 1st Alliance | Seats won | 2nd Alliance | Seats won | Other parties | Seats won | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1951 | 1st | INC | 6 | RSP | 1 | TTC/Independents | 1 / 3 | ||
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 | 2 | ||
1971 | 5th | United Front | 16 | CPI(M) | 2 | 1 | |||
1977 | 6th | 20 | 0 | 0 | |||||
1980 | 7th | LDF | 10 | UDF | 8 | 2 | |||
1984 | 8th | UDF | 17 | LDF | 1 | 2 | |||
1989 | 9th | 17 | 3 | 0 | |||||
1991 | 10th | 15 | 5 | 0 | |||||
1996 | 11th | UDF | 10 | LDF | 10 | 0 | |||
1998 | 12th | UDF | 11 | LDF | 9 | 0 | |||
1999 | 13th | 11 | 9 | 0 | |||||
2004 | 14th | LDF | 18 | UDF | 1 | 1 | |||
2009 | 15th | UDF | 16 | LDF | 4 | 0 | |||
2014 | 16th | 12 | 8 | 0 | |||||
2019 | 17th | 19 | 1 | 0 | |||||
2024 | 18th | 18 | 1 | NDA | 1 |
State Legislative Assembly Elections
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Members of the Kerala 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 of Kerala 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 the governor of Kerala on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Assembly Chamber of the Chief Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram 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 as chief minister of Kerala.
Party wise election results
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State-level elections are held to fill the Kerala Legislative Assembly.[3][4] The latest Assembly elections were held on 6 April 2021.[5]
Alliance wise results
Winning Party / Coalition | Seats won | Opposition party/ Coalition | Seats won | Others | Chief Minister (Party) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1957 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Communist Party of India (CPI) | 60 | Indian National Congress (INC) | 43 | 9 | E. M. S. Namboodiripad (CPI) | |||
Independent | 5 | Praja Socialist Party (PSP) | 9 | |||||
1960 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Praja Socialist Party (PSP) | 20 | Communist Party of India (CPI) | 29 | 3 | Pattom Thanu Pillai (PSP) | |||
Indian National Congress (INC) | 63 | |||||||
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) | 12 | |||||||
1965 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
President's Rule No single party could form a ministry commanding majority and hence this election is considered abortive. | ||||||||
1967 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) | 52 | Indian National Congress (INC) | 9 | 15 | E. M. S. Namboodiripad (CPI(M)) | |||
Communist Party of India (CPI) | 19 | |||||||
Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) | 19 | Kerala Congress (KC) | 5 | |||||
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) | 14 | |||||||
1970 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Communist Party of India (CPI) | 16 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) | 29 | 19 | C. Achutha Menon (CPI) | |||
Indian National Congress (INC) | 30 | |||||||
Kerala Congress (KC) | 12 | |||||||
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) | 11 | |||||||
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) | 6 | |||||||
Praja Socialist Party (PSP) | 3 | |||||||
Socialist Party (SP) | 1 | |||||||
1977 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Indian National Congress (INC) | 38 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) | 17 | 0 | K. Karunakaran (INC) | |||
Communist Party of India (CPI) | 23 | |||||||
Kerala Congress (KC) | 20 | Bharatiya Lok Dal (KC) | 6 | |||||
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) | 13 | All India Muslim League (AIML) | 3 | |||||
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) | 9 | Kerala Congress (B) (KC(B)) | 6 | |||||
Independents | 8 | Independents | 1 | |||||
1980 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Left Democratic Front | 93 | United Democratic Front | 46 | 0 | E. K. Nayanar CPI(M) | |||
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) | 35 | Indian National Congress (INC) | 17 | |||||
Communist Party of India (CPI) | 17 | Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) | 14 | |||||
Indian National Congress (U) (INC(U)) | 21 | Kerala Congress (Jacob) (KC(J)) | 6 | |||||
Kerala Congress (B) (KC(B)) | 1 | Janata Party (JP) | 5 | |||||
Kerala Congress (M) (KC(M)) | 8 | Praja Socialist Party (PSP) | 1 | |||||
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) | 6 | Independents | 4 | |||||
All India Muslim League (AIML) | 5 | |||||||
1982 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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United Democratic Front | 77 | Left Democratic Front | 63 | 0 | K. Karunakaran INC | |||
1987 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Left Democratic Front | 78 | United Democratic Front | 61 | 1 | E. K. Nayanar CPI(M) | |||
1991 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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United Democratic Front | 90 | Left Democratic Front | 48 | 2 | K. Karunakaran INC | |||
1996 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Left Democratic Front | 80 | United Democratic Front | 59 | 1 | E. K. Nayanar CPI(M) | |||
2001 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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United Democratic Front | 99 | Left Democratic Front | 40 | 1 | A. K. Antony INC | |||
2006 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Left Democratic Front | 98 | United Democratic Front | 42 | 0 | V. S. Achuthanandan CPI(M) | |||
2011 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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United Democratic Front | 72 | Left Democratic Front | 68 | 1 | Oommen Chandy INC | |||
Indian National Congress | 38 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 45 | |||||
Indian Union Muslim League | 20 | Communist Party of India | 13 | |||||
Kerala Congress (M) | 9 | Janata Dal (Secular) | 4 | |||||
Socialist Janata (Democratic) | 2 | Independents | 2 | |||||
Kerala Congress (B) | 1 | Nationalist Congress Party | 2 | |||||
Kerala Congress (Jacob) | 1 | Revolutionary Marxist Party of India | 2 | |||||
2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Left Democratic Front | 91 | United Democratic Front | 47 | 2 | Pinarayi Vijayan CPI(M) | |||
Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 58 | Indian National Congress | 22 | |||||
Communist Party of India | 19 | Indian Union Muslim League | 18 | |||||
Janata Dal (Secular) | 3 | Kerala Congress (M) | 6 | |||||
Nationalist Congress Party | 2 | Kerala Congress (Jacob) | 1 | |||||
Independents | 5 | |||||||
Congress (Secular) | 1 | |||||||
Kerala Congress (B) | 1 | |||||||
National Secular Conference | 1 | |||||||
Communist Marxist Party | 1 | |||||||
2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election | ||||||||
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Left Democratic Front | 99 | United Democratic Front | 41 | 0 | Pinarayi Vijayan CPI(M) | |||
Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 62 | Indian National Congress | 21 | |||||
Communist Party of India | 17 | Indian Union Muslim League | 15 | |||||
Kerala Congress (M) | 5 | Kerala Congress | 2 | |||||
Janata Dal (Secular) | 2 | Kerala Congress (Jacob) | 1 | |||||
Nationalist Congress Party | 2 | Revolutionary Marxist Party of India | 1 | |||||
Loktantrik Janata Dal | 1 | Revolutionary Socialist Party | 0 | |||||
Indian National League | 1 | |||||||
Congress (Secular) | 1 | |||||||
Scheduled[6] |
List of political alliances of Kerala in power (1980–present)
No. | Flag | Political alliance | Total days in governance | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Left Democratic Front (LDF) | 8851 days | |
2 | ![]() | United Democratic Front (UDF) | 7,295 days |
Local Body elections
The elections for local self-government institutions, such as panchayats and municipalities, are conducted by the Kerala State Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional authority.
Panchayat Elections is a term widely used in Kerala, India, for the polls that are held to select the Local Self-government Representatives. There are three branches of local self-government institutions in Kerala, officially known as Panchayati Raj Institutions, responsible for rural governance. They are Grama Panchayat which can be translated as Village Government, Block Panchayat and District Panchayat. A Grama Panchayat is almost an equivalent to City administration and, Block Panchayat is for a rural block (which includes several gram panchayats) District Panchayat to a County (excluding statutory cities and towns).
There are two more wings namely Municipality which is the urban local government that exists only in major towns and Municipal Corporations that come only in six major cities. Consequent to the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) are to function as the third tier of government.[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 last Election 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 |
See also
- Politics of Kerala
- Political parties in Kerala
- Left Democratic Front
- United Democratic Front (Kerala)
Notes
External links
- Election Commission of India
- [1]
- LSGI Election Result 2010
- LSGI Election Result 2005
- Kerala State Election Commission
- Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala
- v
- t
- e
- ^ "Messages". sec.kerala.gov.in. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "Terms of the Houses". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ "History of kerala legislature – Government of Kerala, India". kerala.gov.in. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ "Kerala Assembly Election DATABASE".
- ^ "Kerala Assembly Election Schedule 2016". Election Commission India.
- ^ "What will force Mr Modi to change course will be the outcome of the state elections in 2020–21". The Indian Express. 29 December 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
- ^ Jha, B. K. "All About India's Panchayati Raj System". ruralmarketing.in. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "Local Self-Governance – Government of Kerala, India". kerala.gov.in. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "Local body polls in Kerala to be held on November 2 and 5". The Hindu. 4 October 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ Suresh, M. K. "Kerala to conduct local body elections in October". Mathrubhumi. Retrieved 11 September 2020.