Kerala's major political parties are aligned under two coalitions, namely the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) since the late 1970s. Kerala was the first Indian state to have coalition government as early as 1961 .
Pre-poll alliances
State-level alliances Left Democratic Front The Left Democratic Front (LDF), also known as Left Front (Kerala), is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the state of Kerala, India. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the other being Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front, each of which has been in power alternately for the last four decades. LDF has won the elections to the State Legislature of Kerala in the years 1980, 1987, 1996, 2006, 2016 and had a historic re-election in 2021 where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years. LDF has won 6 out of 10 elections since the formation of the alliance in 1980. The alliance consists of CPI(M), CPI and various smaller parties.
LDF has been in power in the State Legislature of Kerala under E. K. Nayanar (1980–1981, 1987–1991, 1996–2001), V. S. Achuthanandan (2006–2011), Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current). E. K. Nayanar served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala.
The alliance led by Pinarayi Vijayan returned to power in 2016 Assembly Election winning 91 out of 140 seats and further increasing its tally to 99 seats in the 2021 Assembly Election. Pinarayi Vijayan became the first Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office after a historic election in 2021 where an incumbent government was re-elected for the first time in 40 years.
United Democratic Front
The United Democratic Front (UDF) is the Indian National Congress-led alliance of centre to centre-right political parties in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the other being Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front, each of which has been in power alternately since 1980 E. K. Nayanar ministry.
United Democratic Front was created by the Indian National Congress (then known as Congress-Indira) party leader K. Karunakaran in 1979, as a successor to the existing Congress-led alliance. The alliance first came to power in 1981 (K. Karunakaran ministry) and has won elections to the state legislature of Kerala in the years 1982 (Karunakaran ministry), 1991 (Karunakaran and A. K. Antony ministries), 2001 (Antony and Oommen Chandy ministries), and 2011 (Oommen Chandy ministry). The alliance currently acts as the opposition in the state legislature of Kerala (after the 2021 legislative assembly election). United Democratic Front leaders V. D. Satheesan and Sunny Joseph currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President respectively.
The alliance currently consists of Indian National Congress, Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Joseph), Kerala Congress (Jacob), Revolutionary Socialist Party and a variety of other smaller parties. The alliance follows big tent policy and includes a variety political parties. National Democratic Alliance
National-level alliances INDIA(INC+) NDA(BJP+)
National parties Political partyAbbr.FlagElectoral symbolPolitical positionFoundedFounderKL unit leader AllianceSeatsLok SabhaRajya SabhaKerala Legislative AssemblyCommunist Party of India (Marxist)CPIMLeft-wing7 November 1964E. M. S. NamboodiripadM. V. GovindanLDFIndian National CongressINCCentre to Centre-left28 December 1885Allan Octavian HumeSunny JosephUDFBharatiya Janata PartyBJPRight to Far-right 6 April 1980Atal Bihari VajpayeeRajeev ChandrashekharNDAAam Aadmi PartyAAPCentre26 November 2012Arvind KejriwalP. C. CyriacN/ABahujan Samaj PartyBSPCentre14 April 1984Kanshi RamAdvocate PralhadanN/A
State parties +PartyAbbr.FlagElectionsymbolPoliticalpositionIdeologyFoundedLeader(s)Kerala Unit LeaderAllianceSeatsLok SabhaRajya SabhaStateassemblies CPI Left-wingCommunismMarxism–LeninismAnti-capitalismSocialismSecularism1925 D. RajaBinoy ViswamLDF NCP-SCP CentreIndian nationalismSecularism2024 Sharad PawarPC ChackoLDF KECM Centre-Right WelfareDemocratic socialism 1979Jose K. ManiJose K. ManiLDF RJD Centre-left Socialism 1997 Lalu Prasad YadavTejashwi YadavAdv. John JohnLDF KEC Centre-Right Welfare 1964P. J. JosephP. J. JosephUDF IUML Centre-right Muslim interestsSocial conservatism 1948 Hyderali Shihab ThangalSadiq Ali ThangalUDF RSP Far-left CommunismMarxism–LeninismRevolutionary socialism 1940 Manoj Bhattacharya A. A. AzizUDF
Parties consisting of at least 1 member in the assembly PartyAbbr.FlagPoliticalpositionIdeologyFoundedKerala Unit LeaderAllianceSeatsLok SabhaRajya SabhaStateassembliesKerala Congress (B)KECB 1977K. B. Ganesh KumarLDF Congress (Secular)CONS 1978Kadannappalli RamachandranLDF Kerala Congress (Jacob)KECJ Centre-Right SecularismSocialismDemocracy 1993Anoop JacobUDF INLSecularism1994Ahamed DevarkovilLDF NSC 2011V. AbdurahimanLDF RMPI Left-Wing CommunismMarxism-Leninism 2016K. K. RemaUDF JKC Centre-Left Socialism 2016Dr. K. C. JosephLDF Revolutionary Socialist Party (Leninist)RSPLFar-Left2016Kovoor KunjumonLDF National Janata DalNJD 2018Adv John JohnUDF Kerala Democratic PartyKDP Centre-Left Democratic socialismLiberalism 2021Mani C. KappanUDF Kerala Congress DemocraticKCD Centre-Right Welfare 2024 Saji ManjakadambilNDA All India Trinamool CongressAITCSecularism2024P. V. Anvar AnnA DHRM Party Of IndiaAnnA DHRM Party Social DemocracyThroughCommon man2020Saji Kollam
See also Communist Party of India (Marxist) – Kerala Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee Bharatiya Janata Party – Kerala 2024 Indian general election in Kerala 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election
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