| Party Name: | Left Democratic Front |
| Abbreviation: | LDF |
| Chairman: | E. P. Jayarajan |
| Leader: | Pinarayi Vijayan |
| Founder: | P. K. Vasudevan Nair E. M. S. Namboodiripad |
| Position: | Left-wing[1] |
| State Seats Name: | Kerala Legislative Assembly |
| Headquarters: | AKG Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016.[2] 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.[3] LDF has won the elections to the State Legislature of Kerala in the years 1980,[4] 1987,[5] 1996,[6] 2006,[7] 2016[8] and had a historic re-election in 2021[9] where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years.[10] 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.[11]
LDF has been in power in the State Legislature of Kerala under E. K. Nayanar (1980–1981, 1987–1991, 1996–2001),[12] V. S. Achuthanandan (2006–2011),[13] Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current).[14] E. K. Nayanar served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala.[15]
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.[16]
See also: Communism in Kerala.
The political scenario in Kerala (1957–1980) was characterized by continually shifting alliances, party mergers and splits, factionalism within the coalitions and within political parties, and the formation of a numerous splinter groups. 1957 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was the first assembly election in the Indian state of Kerala. The Communist Party of India won the election with 60 seats. The election led to the formation of first democratically elected communist government in India. A Communist-led government under E. M. S. Namboodiripad resulted from the first elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1957, making him the first communist leader in India to head a popularly elected government.[17] [18] It was the second ever Communist government to be democratically elected, after Communist success in the 1945 elections in the Republic of San Marino, a microstate in Europe.[19] [20] The coalition politics of Kerala began with second election held to the state legislative assembly in 1960.[21] The Communist Party of India (Marxist) first came into power in Kerala in 1967, under Seven party front, which was an alliance of CPI(M), CPI, IUML, and four other parties.[22] In 1970's, the major political parties in the state were unified under two major coalitions, one of them led by Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India and the other by CPI(M).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two main pre-poll political alliances were formed: the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Indian National Congress. These pre-poll political alliances of Kerala have stabilized strongly in such a manner that, with rare exceptions, most of the coalition partners stick their loyalty to the respective alliances (Left Democratic Front or United Democratic Front).
LDF first came into power in 1980 election under the leadership of E. K. Nayanar sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala on 26 March 1980[23] for the first time in 1980. He formed government with the support of Congress (A) under A. K. Antony and Kerala Congress under K. M. Mani, Nayanar later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala, ever since 1980 election, the power has been clearly alternating between the two alliances till the 2016. LDF has won 6 out of 10 elections since the formation of the alliance in 1980. Since 1980, none of alliances in Kerala has been re-elected till the 2016. The 1987, 1996 elections led E. K. Nayanar, and the 2006 elections led by V. S. Achuthanandan formed governments and completed their full terms but were not re-elected. In 2016, LDF won the 2016 election led by Pinarayi Vijayan and had a historic re-election in 2021 election where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years. Pinarayi Vijayan is the first Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office.[16]
| data-sort-type=number ! Style="background-color:#FF0000; color:white" | No | Portrait | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P. V. Kunjikannan | 1980–1986 | ||
| 2 | T. K. Ramakrishnan | 1986–1987 | ||
| 3 | M. M. Lawrence | 1987–1998 | ||
| 4 | V. S. Achuthanandan | 1998–2001 | ||
| 5 | Paloli Mohammed Kutty | 2001–2006 | ||
| 6 | Vaikom Viswan | 2006–2018 | ||
| 7 | A. Vijayaraghavan | 2018–2022 | ||
| 8 | E. P. Jayarajan | 2022–present |
| Party | Party Symbol | Party Flag | Base | Kerala Unit Leader | Seats in Kerala Legislative Assembly | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPI(M) | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | National Party | M. V. Govindan | |||||
| CPI | Communist Party of India | State Party | Binoy Viswam | |||||
| KEC(M) | Kerala Congress (M) | State Party | Jose K. Mani | |||||
| JDS(T) | Janata Dal Secular (Thomas)[26] | State Party | Mathew T. Thomas | |||||
| NCP(SP) | Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) | State Party | P. C. Chacko | |||||
| RJD | Rashtriya Janata Dal | State Party | M. V. Shreyams Kumar | |||||
| KEC(B) | Kerala Congress (B) | registered unrecognised | K. B. Ganesh Kumar | |||||
| INL | Indian National League | registered unrecognised | Ahamed Devarkovil | |||||
| CON(S) | Congress (Secular) | registered unrecognised | Kadannappalli Ramachandran | |||||
| JKC | Janadhipathya Kerala Congress | registered unrecognised | Antony Raju | |||||
| KEC(S) | Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas) | registered unrecognised | Binoy Joseph | |||||
Non Member Supporters[27] [28]
See main article: List of chief ministers of Kerala.
| No | Portrait | Name | Tenure | Total | Party | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E. K. Nayanar | 25 January 1980 | 20 October 1981 | 10 years, 353 days | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Nayanar I | |||
| 26 March 1987 | 24 June 1991 | Nayanar II | |||||||
| 20 May 1996 | 17 May 2001 | Nayanar III | |||||||
| 2 | V. S. Achuthanandan | 18 May 2006 | 18 May 2011 | 5 years 0 days | Achuthanandan | ||||
| 3 | Pinarayi Vijayan | 25 May 2016 | 19 May 2021 | Pinarayi I | |||||
| 20 May 2021 | At Present | Pinarayi II | |||||||
| No | Portrait | Name | Tenure | Total | Party | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E. M. S. Namboodiripad | 5 April 1957 | 31 July 1959 | 4 years 357 days | Communist Party of India | Namboodiripad I | |||
| 6 March 1967 | 1 November 1969 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Namboodiripad II | ||||||
| 2 | C. Achutha Menon | 1 November 1969 | 3 August 1970 | 7 years, 80 days | Communist Party of India | Achutha Menon I | |||
| 4 October 1970 | 25 March 1977 | Achutha Menon II | |||||||
| 3 | P. K. Vasudevan Nair | 29 October 1978 | 12 October 1979 | 348 days | Vasudevan Nair | ||||
| data-sort-type=number | Political alliance | Total days in governance | data-sort-type=number | Number of Chief ministers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-value="1" | 1 | LDF | days | data-sort-type=5 | 3 | |
| data-sort-value="2" | 2 | UDF | days | data-sort-type=5 | 3 | |
| Leader | Seats won | Change | Outcome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | E. K. Nayanar | New | ||
| 1982 | 30 | |||
| 1987 | 15 | |||
| 1991 | 42 | |||
| 1996 | 32 | |||
| 2001 | V. S. Achuthanandan | 40 | ||
| 2006 | 58 | |||
| 2011 | 30 | |||
| 2016 | Pinarayi Vijayan | 23 | ||
| 2021 | 8 | |||
| Election | Seats won | Ruling Coalition | Majority | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | Others | ||||
| 1980 | 93 | 46 | 1 | LDF | 47 | |
| 1982 | 63 | 77 | 0 | UDF | 14 | |
| 78 | 61 | 1 | LDF | 17 | ||
| 48 | 90 | 2 | UDF | 40 | ||
| 80 | 59 | 1 | LDF | 21 | ||
| 40 | 99 | 1 | UDF | 59 | ||
| 98 | 42 | 0 | LDF | 56 | ||
| 68 | 72 | 0 | UDF | 4 | ||
| 91 | 47 | 2 | LDF | 44 | ||
| 99 | 41 | 0 | LDF | 58 | ||
| Legislature | Seats won / contested | Change in seats | Total votes | of votes | Change in vote % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 7th Lok Sabha | 10 | N/A | N/A | N/A | [29] | ||
| 1984 | 8th Lok Sabha | 8 | 4,607,568 | 42.24% | N/A | [30] [31] | ||
| 1989 | 9th Lok Sabha | 1 | 6,370,627 | 42.93% | 0.70% | [32] | ||
| 1991 | 10th Lok Sabha | 1 | 6,446,253 | 44.28% | 1.35% | [33] [34] | ||
| 1996 | 11th Lok Sabha | 6 | 6,469,266 | 44.87% | 0.59% | [35] | ||
| 1998 | 12th Lok Sabha | 1 | 6,628,189 | 44.55% | 0.32% | [36] | ||
| 1999 | 13th Lok Sabha | 6,713,244 | 43.70% | 0.85% | [37] | |||
| 2004 | 14th Lok Sabha | 9 | 6,962,151 | 46.15% | 2.45% | [38] | ||
| 2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | 14 | 6,717,418 | 41.89% | 4.26% | [39] | ||
| 2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | 4 | 7,211,257 | 40.12% | 1.77% | [40] | ||
| 2019 | 17th Lok Sabha | 7 | 7,156,387 | 36.29% | 3.83% | [41] | ||
| 2024 | 18th Lok Sabha | 6,590,526 | 33.34% | 2.95% |
| Corporation | Election Year | Seats won/ Total seats | Sitting side |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thiruvananthapuram Corporation | 2020 | ||
| Kozhikode Municipal Corporation | |||
| Kochi Municipal Corporation | |||
| Kollam Municipal Corporation | |||
| Thrissur Municipal Corporation | |||
| Kannur Municipal Corporation |
The LDF is the ruling alliance in Kerala which has 99 seats out of the 140 in the Kerala Niyamasabha.
| No. | Party | Current No. of MLAs in Assembly |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 62 |
| 2 | Communist Party of India | 17 |
| 3 | Kerala Congress (M) | 5 |
| 4 | Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) | 2 |
| 5 | Janata Dal (Secular) | 2 |
| 6 | Kerala Congress (B) | 1 |
| 7 | Rashtriya Janata Dal (Previously LJD) | 1 |
| 8 | Indian National League | 1 |
| 9 | Congress (Secular) | 1 |
| 10 | Janadhipathya Kerala Congress | 1 |
| 11 | National Secular Conference | 1 |
| 12 | LDF Supported Independents | 5 |
| Total Seats | 99 | |
Key
See main article: List of Rajya Sabha members from Kerala. Keys:
| Name[42] | Party | Term start[43] | Term end | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. A. Rahim | CPM | 03-Apr-2022 | 03-Apr-2028 | |
| 2 | V. Sivadasan | CPM | 24-Apr-2021 | 23-Apr-2027 | |
| 3 | John Brittas | CPM | 24-Apr-2021 | 23-Apr-2027 | |
| 4 | Elamaram Kareem | CPM | 02-Jul-2018 | 01-Jul-2024 | |
| 5 | P. Santhosh Kumar | CPI | 03-Apr-2022 | 03-Apr-2028 | |
| 6 | Binoy Viswam | CPI | 02-Jul-2018 | 01-Jul-2024 | |
| 7 | Jose K Mani | KC(M) | 01-Dec-2021 | 01-Jul-2024 | |
See main article: List of members of the 17th Lok Sabha.
| Constituency | Name | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kottayam | Thomas Chazhikadan | bgcolor= | Kerala Congress (M) | |
| 2 | Alappuzha | A. M. Ariff | bgcolor= | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | |
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), who also forms the state government, won in more than half of all gram panchayats and block panchayats, two-thirds of district panchayats and in five out of six municipal corporations.
| Local Bodies in lead | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | Others | Tie | |||
| Gram Panchayats | 514 | 321 | 42 | 64 | 941 | |
| Block Panchayats | 108 | 38 | 0 | 6 | 152 | |
| District Panchayats | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| Municipalities | 43 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 86 | |
| Corporations | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Local Bodies won | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | UDF | NDA | Others | |||
| Gram Panchayats | 549 | 365 | 14 | 13 | 941 | |
| Block Panchayats | 90 | 61 | 0 | 1 | 152 | |
| District Panchayats | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| Municipalities | 44 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 87 | |
| Corporations | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
See also: Political activism in Kerala. On 7 December 2011, the LDF organized a 208 km human wall demanding the construction of a new dam in place of the present 115-year leaky dam at Mullapperiyar. The human wall was the second-longest of the kind in Kerala which stretched across two districts.[44]
LDF launched its website ahead of 2011 Kerala Assembly Election.[45]