Left Democratic Front

For other uses, see Left Democratic Front (disambiguation).

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.^[1] 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.^[2] LDF has won the elections to the State Legislature of Kerala in the years 1980,^[3] 1987,^[4] 1996,^[5] 2006,^[6] 2016^[7] and had a historic re-election in 2021^[8] where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years.^[9] 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.^[10]

Left Democratic Front ഇടതുപക്ഷ ജനാധിപത്യ മുന്നണി
Abbreviation	LDF
Leader	Pinarayi Vijayan (Chief Minister of Kerala)
Chairperson	T. P. Ramakrishnan
Lok Sabha Leader	K. Radhakrishnan
Rajya Sabha Leader	John Brittas
Founders	P. K. Vasudevan Nair E. M. S. Namboodiripad
Founded	1979; 46 years ago (1979)
Membership (2024)	6,590,526
Political position	Left-wing[A]
Colours	Red
Lok Sabha	1 / 20
Rajya Sabha	6 / 9
Kerala Legislative Assembly	98 / 140
Gram Panchayats	514 / 941
Panchayat Samitis	108 / 152
Zilla Parishads	11 / 14
Municipalities	43 / 86
Website
ldf.in
Politics of India Political parties Elections ^ A: The Front is described as a broad left-wing alliance, with centre-left and far-left factions.

LDF has been in power in the State Legislature of Kerala under E. K. Nayanar (1980–81, 1987–91, 1996–2001),^[11] V. S. Achuthanandan (2006-11),^[12] Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current).^[13] E. K. Nayanar served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala.^[14]

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.^[15]

History

See also: Communism in Kerala

Early years (1957–1979)

1st cabinet ministry of Kerala led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1957)

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.^[16] 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.^[16] 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.^[21] 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).

Formation of LDF (1979)

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.^[16] 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).

Left Democratic Front (1980–present)

2nd Nayanar Ministry (1987)

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^[22] 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.^[16] 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.^[15]

List of LDF Conveners

Founders of the LDF

E. M. S. Namboodiripad

P. K. Vasudevan Nair

E. K. Nayanar
Longest serving Chief minister of Kerala

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	2022–2024[23]
9		T. P. Ramakrishnan	2024–present[23]

Current members (Main Parties)

Current members^[24][25]

Party			Party Symbol	Party Flag	Kerala Unit Leader		Seats in Kerala Legislative Assembly
	CPI(M)	Communist Party of India (Marxist)				M. V. Govindan	62 / 140	44.28%
	CPI	Communist Party of India				Binoy Viswam	17 / 140	12.14%
	KEC(M)	Kerala Congress (M)				Jose K. Mani	5 / 140	3.57%
	JDS(T)	Janata Dal Secular (Thomas)[26]				Mathew T. Thomas	2 / 140	1.43%
	NCP(SP)	Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)				P. C. Chacko	2 / 140	1.43%
	RJD	Rashtriya Janata Dal				M. V. Shreyams Kumar	1 / 140	0.71%
	KEC(B)	Kerala Congress (B)				K. B. Ganesh Kumar	1 / 140	0.71%
	INL	Indian National League				Ahamed Devarkovil	1 / 140	0.71%
	CON(S)	Congress (Secular)				Kadannappalli Ramachandran	1 / 140	0.71%
	JKC	Janadhipathya Kerala Congress				Antony Raju	1 / 140	0.71%
	KEC(S)	Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas)				Binoy Joseph	0 / 140	0%

Associate Members

The following are the associate member parties in LDF:^[27][28]

• NSC (leader – P. T. A. Rahim)
• RSP(L) (leader – Kovoor Kunjumon)
• JSS (Left)
• Revolutionary Socialist Party (Left)
• Marxist-Leninist Party of India (Red Flag) (leader – Unnichekan)
• Samajwadi Party
• Forward Bloc (Left)
• National League (leader – Abdul Wahab)^[29]

Chief ministers

Main article: List of chief ministers of Kerala

List of chief ministers from Left Democratic Front in Kerala (1980–present)

No[a]	Portrait	Name[b]	Tenure			Total	Party[c]		Ministry
1		E. K. Nayanar (1919–2004)	25 January 1980	20 October 1981	1 year, 268 days	10 years, 353 days		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Nayanar I
			26 March 1987	24 June 1991	4 years, 90 days				Nayanar II
			20 May 1996	17 May 2001	4 years, 362 days				Nayanar III
2		V. S. Achuthanandan (b. 1923)	18 May 2006	18 May 2011	5 years, 0 days	5 years 0 days			Achuthanandan
3		Pinarayi Vijayan (b. 1945)	25 May 2016	19 May 2021	8 years, 360 days	8 years, 360 days			Pinarayi I
			20 May 2021	incumbent					Pinarayi II

List of chief ministers from parties of Left Democratic Front (1957-1980)

No[d]	Portrait	Name[e]	Tenure			Total	Party[f]		Ministry
1		E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1909–1998)	5 April 1957	31 July 1959	2 years, 117 days	4 years 357 days		Communist Party of India	Namboodiripad I
			6 March 1967	1 November 1969	2 years, 240 days			Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Namboodiripad II
2		C. Achutha Menon (1913–1991)	1 November 1969	3 August 1970	275 days	7 years, 80 days		Communist Party of India	Achutha Menon I
			4 October 1970	25 March 1977	6 years, 172 days				Achutha Menon II
3		P. K. Vasudevan Nair (1926–2005)	29 October 1978	12 October 1979	348 days	348 days			Vasudevan Nair

List of political alliances of Kerala in power (1980–present)

No.	Political alliance		Total days in governance	Number of Chief ministers
1	LDF		9113 days	3
2	UDF		7,295 days	3

Electoral history

Kerala Legislative Assembly elections

Vote share in consecutive Kerala Assembly elections
1982			47.25%
1987			44.97%
1991			45.88%
1996			45.88%
2001			43.70%
2006			48.63%
2011			44.94%
2016			43.48%
2021			45.43%

Performance of Left Democratic Front, Kerala in Kerala Assembly elections

Election Year	Leader	Seats won	Change	Outcome
1980	E. K. Nayanar	93 / 140	New	Government, later Opposition
1982		63 / 140	30	Opposition
1987		78 / 140	15	Government
1991		48 / 140	42	Opposition
1996		80 / 140	32	Government
2001	V. S. Achuthanandan	40 / 140	40	Opposition
2006		98 / 140	58	Government
2011		68 / 140	30	Opposition
2016	Pinarayi Vijayan	91 / 140	23	Government
2021		99 / 140	8	Government

All time-LDF Kerala assembly seat count (For majority=70 seats)

Assembly election result by alliance

Election	Seats won			Ruling Coalition	Majority
	LDF	UDF	Others
1980	93	46	1	LDF	47
1982	63	77	0	UDF	14
1987	78	61	1	LDF	17
1991	48	90	2	UDF	40
1996	80	59	1	LDF	21
2001	40	99	1	UDF	59
2006	98	42	0	LDF	56
2011	68	72	0	UDF	4
2016	91	47	2	LDF	44
2021	99	41	0	LDF	58

Indian General Elections (Lok Sabha)

Performance of Left Democratic Front, Kerala in Lok Sabha elections

Election Year	Legislature	Seats won / contested	Change in seats	Total votes	Per. of votes	Change in vote %	Ref.
1980	7th Lok Sabha	12 / 20	12	N/A	N/A	N/A	[30]
1984	8th Lok Sabha	2 / 20	10	4,607,568	42.24%	N/A	[31][32]
1989	9th Lok Sabha	3 / 20	1	6,370,627	42.93%	0.70%	[33]
1991	10th Lok Sabha	4 / 20	1	6,446,253	44.28%	1.35%	[34][35]
1996	11th Lok Sabha	10 / 20	6	6,469,266	44.87%	0.59%	[36]
1998	12th Lok Sabha	9 / 20	1	6,628,189	44.55%	0.32%	[37]
1999	13th Lok Sabha	9 / 20		6,713,244	43.70%	0.85%	[38]
2004	14th Lok Sabha	18 / 20	9	6,962,151	46.15%	2.45%	[39]
2009	15th Lok Sabha	4 / 20	14	6,717,418	41.89%	4.26%	[40]
2014	16th Lok Sabha	8 / 20	4	7,211,257	40.12%	1.77%	[41]
2019	17th Lok Sabha	1 / 20	7	7,156,387	36.29%	3.83%	[42]
2024	18th Lok Sabha	1 / 20		6,590,526	33.34%	2.95%

In Kerala Municipal Corporations

Corporation	Election Year	Seats won/ Total seats	Sitting side
Thiruvananthapuram Corporation	2020	52 / 100	Government
Kozhikode Municipal Corporation		49 / 75	Government
Kochi Municipal Corporation		34 / 74	Government
Kollam Municipal Corporation		39 / 55	Government
Thrissur Municipal Corporation		24 / 55	Government
Kannur Municipal Corporation		19 / 55	Opposition

List of elected members

Kerala Legislative Assembly

The LDF is the ruling alliance in Kerala which has 99 seats out of the 140 in the Kerala Niyamasabha.

Map of Kerala showing 2021 State Legislative Assembly Election Results

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	4
	Total Seats	98

The following list shows the MLAs belonging to LDF in the Niyamasabha.

Key

  CPI(M)   CPI   KC(M)   JD(S)   LJD   NCP

  INL   KC(B)   Cong(S)   RSP(L)   NSC

  Independent

Sl.no	Constituency	Name of the elected MLA	Party affiliation
Kasaragod district
1	Udma	C. H. Kunhambu	CPI(M)
2	Kanhangad	E. Chandrasekharan	CPI
3	Thrikaripur	M. Rajagopalan	CPI(M)
Kannur district
4	Payyanur	T. I. Madusoodhanan	CPI(M)
5	Kalliasseri	M.Vijin	CPI(M)
6	Taliparamba	M.V Govindan Master	CPI(M)
7	Kannur	Kadannappalli Ramachandran	Cong (S)
8	Dharmadom	Pinarayi Vijayan	CPI(M)
9	Thalassery	A. N. Shamseer	CPI(M)
10	Kuthuparamba	K.P Mohanan	RJD
11	Mattanur	K. K. Shailaja	CPI(M)
12	Azhikode	K.V Sumesh	CPI(M)
Wayanad district
13	Mananthavady	O. R. Kelu	CPI(M)
Kozhikode district
14	Nadapuram	E. K. Vijayan	CPI
15	Koyilandy	Kanathil Jameela	CPI(M)
16	Perambra	T. P. Ramakrishnan	CPI(M)
17	Balussery	K.M Sachin Dev	CPI(M)
18	Elathur	A. K. Saseendran	NCP
19	Kozhikode North	Thottathil Raveendran	CPI(M)
20	Beypore	P.A Muhammed Riyas	CPI(M)
21	Kunnamangalam	P. T. A. Rahim	NSC
22	Kozhikode	Ahamed Devarkovil	INL
23	Thiruvambady	Linto Joseph	CPI(M)
24	Kuttiyadi	K.P Kunhammad Kutty	CPI(M)
Malappuram district
25	Nilambur		vacant
26	Tanur	V. Abdurahiman	CPI(M)
27	Thavanur	K.T. Jaleel	Independent
28	Ponnani	P.Nandakumar	CPI(M)
Palakkad district
29	Pattambi	Muhammed Muhsin	CPI
30	Shornur	P Mammikutty	CPI(M)
31	Ottapalam	K.Premkumar	CPI(M)
32	Kongad	K.Shanthakumari	CPI(M)
33	Malampuzha	A Prabhakaran	CPI(M)
34	Tarur	P.P Sumod	CPI(M)
35	Chittur	K. Krishnankutty	JD(S)
36	Nenmara	K. Babu	CPI(M)
37	Alathur	K. D. Prasenan	CPI(M)
38	Thrithala	M.B Rajesh	CPI(M)
Thrissur district
39	Chelakkara	U R Pradeep	CPI(M)
40	Wadakkanchery	Xavier Chittilappilly	CPI(M)
41	Kunnamkulam	A. C. Moideen	CPI(M)
42	Guruvayur	N.K Akbar	CPI(M)
43	Manalur	Murali Perunelli	CPI(M)
44	Ollur	K. Rajan	CPI
45	Thrissur	P Balachandran	CPI
46	Nattika	C.C Mukundan	CPI
47	Kaipamangalam	E. T. Tyson	CPI
48	Irinjalakuda	R Bindhu	CPI(M)
49	Puthukkad	K.K Ramachandran	CPI(M)
51	Kodungallur	V. R. Sunil Kumar	CPI
Ernakulam district
52	Vypeen	K.N Unnikrishnan	CPI(M)
53	Kalamasseri	P.Rajeev	CPI(M)
54	Kochi	K. J. Maxi	CPI(M)
55	Kothamangalam	Antony John	CPI(M)
56	Kunnathunadu	P.V Sreenijan	CPI(M)
Idukki district
57	Devikulam	A Raja	CPI(M)
58	Udumbanchola	M. M. Mani	CPI(M)
59	Peerumade	E. S. Bijimol	CPI
60	Idukki	Roshy Augustine	KC(M)
Kottayam district
61	Vaikom	C. K. Asha	CPI
62	Ettumanoor	V.N Vasavan	CPI(M)
63	Changanassery	Adv Job Michael	KC(M)
64	Poonjar	Sebastian Kulathunkal	KC(M)
65	Kanjirappalli	Dr N Jayaraj	KC(M)
Alappuzha district
66	Cherthala	P.Prasad	CPI
67	Alappuzha	P. P. Chitharanjan	CPI(M)
68	Ambalappuzha	H.Salam	CPI(M)
69	Kayamkulam	Prathiba Hari	CPI(M)
70	Mavelikkara	M.S Arunkumar	CPI(M)
71	Chengannur	Saji Cherian	CPI(M)
72	Kuttanad	Thomas K. Thomas	NCP
73	Aroor	Dhaleema Jojo	CPI(M)
Pathanamthitta district
74	Thiruvalla	Mathew T. Thomas	JD(S)
75	Ranni	Pramod Narayanan	KC(M)
76	Aranmula	Veena George	CPI(M)
77	Konni	K. U. Jenish Kumar	CPI(M)
78	Adoor	Chittayam Gopakumar	CPI
Kollam district
79	Kunnathur	Kovoor Kunjumon	RSP (L)
80	Kottarakkara	K.N Balagopal	CPI(M)
81	Pathanapuram	K. B. Ganesh Kumar	KC(B)
82	Punalur	P. S. Supal	CPI
83	Chadayamangalam	J.Chinchu Rani	CPI
84	Kollam	M. Mukesh	CPI(M)
85	Eravipuram	M. Noushad	CPI(M)
86	Chathannoor	G.S. Jayalal	CPI
87	Chavara	Sujith Vijayan Pillai	CPI(M)
Thiruvananthapuram district
88	Varkala	V. Joy	CPI(M)
89	Aruvikkara	G.Stephen	CPI(M)
90	Nemam	V.Shivankutty	CPI(M)
91	Attingal	O.S Ambika	CPI(M)
92	Chirayinkeezhu	V. Sasi	CPI
93	Nedumangad	G.R Anil	CPI
94	Vamanapuram	D. K. Murali	CPI(M)
95	Kazhakoottam	Kadakampally Surendran	CPI(M)
96	Vattiyoorkavu	V. K. Prasanth	CPI(M)
97	Parassala	C. K. Hareendran	CPI(M)
98	Kattakkada	I. B. Sathish	CPI(M)
99	Neyyattinkara	K. A. Ansalan	CPI(M)
50	Thiruvananthapuram	Adv Antony Raju	JKC

Rajya Sabha

Main article: List of Rajya Sabha members from Kerala

Keys:

  CPI(M) (3)   CPI (2)   KC(M) (1)

#	Name[43]	Party		Term start[44]	Term end[44]
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	P. Santhosh Kumar		CPI	03-Apr-2022	03-Apr-2028
5	P. P. Suneer		CPI	02-Jul-2024	01-Jul-2030
6	Jose K Mani		KC(M)	02-Jul-2024	01-Jul-2030

Lok Sabha

Main article: List of members of the 18th Lok Sabha

  CPI(M) (1)

#	Constituency	Name	Party
1	Alathur (SC)	K. Radhakrishnan		Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Kerala local body elections

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.

2020 Kerala local elections

Local self-government body	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 [g]	14
Municipalities	43	41	2	0 [h]	86
Corporations	5	1	0	0	6

2015 Kerala local elections

Local self-government body	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

Political activism

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.^[45]

LDF launched its website ahead of 2011 Kerala Assembly Election.^[46]

See also

• Communist Party of India (Marxist), Kerala
• Communism in Kerala
• United Front (1967–1969, Kerala)
• Left Front (West Bengal)
• Politics of Kerala
• United Democratic Front (Kerala)
• Political parties in Kerala
• List of communist parties in India

Notes

1. A number in parentheses indicates that the incumbent has previously held office
2. Year in parentheses indicates life span
3. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
4. A number in parentheses indicates that the incumbent has previously held office
5. Year in parentheses indicates life span
6. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
7. The ties were later resolved, LDF now control 11 and UDF controls 3 district panchayats. Refer Aftermath section
8. The ties were later resolved and LDF now control 43 municipalities and UDF controls 41. Refer Aftermath section