Local body polls: CM begins damage-control exercise after debacle
STUNG by one of the worst electoral setbacks of his political career in the recently concluded local body elections, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has quietly launched a comprehensive damage-control exercise, stepping up internal reviews and direct engagement with legislators while remaining largely out of the public glare.
The scale of the Congress-led UDF’s sweeping victory has clearly unsettled the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), which had entered the local body polls confident that a strong showing would pave the way for a third consecutive Vijayan-led government in the April-May 2026 Assembly elections.
Instead, the results have forced a sharp course correction at the very top.
According to sources, Vijayan moved swiftly in the immediate aftermath of the defeat and held meetings with party legislators to take stock of the situation.
The CPI (M)-led LDF currently holds 99 seats in the 140-member Kerala Assembly.
Internal assessments presented to the Chief Minister suggest that only 58 sitting MLAs are reasonably confident of retaining their seats if elections were held today, while as many as 41 legislators are considered vulnerable.
Vijayan is understood to have delivered a blunt message during these interactions: MLAs must urgently study voting patterns in their constituencies, strengthen organisational outreach, and visibly improve performance on the ground.
Failure to do so, he reportedly warned, could cost them their tickets.
“If victory is not assured, an alternative candidate will be fielded,” Vijayan is said to have told the legislators — a remark that has sent ripples through the CPI-M and the wider LDF.
Parallelly, district-level review meetings have been initiated to dissect the reasons behind the setback and to evolve what the party leadership is calling a “winning formula” for the Assembly polls.
The CPI-M is also recalibrating its electoral strategy, with internal assessments indicating that winning back Muslim minority votes in Malabar may be difficult under the current political climate.
This has prompted discussions on consolidating Hindu votes more effectively.
Significantly, Vijayan has also constituted a special team within the Chief Minister’s Office, comprising a retired senior bureaucrat and a group of policy and political strategists.
Reporting directly to the Chief Minister, the team has been tasked with preparing a detailed roadmap to reconnect with voters, identify gaps, and prevent a repeat of the local body election rout.
With barely a year left for the Assembly polls, the message from the top is clear — complacency will not be tolerated, and the battle for 2026 has already begun.
