Kerala local body polls 2025: State Election Commission publishes election notification

The State Election Commission published the notification for the 2025 local body elections in Kerala on Friday (November 14, 2025), kickstarting the process of filing nomination papers for the two-phase polls in December.

Nominations can be filed till 3 p.m. on November 21, which will be followed by their scrutiny on November 22.

As announced on November 10 by State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Ernakulam will go to polls on December 9. The elections in Thrissur, Malappuram, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kannur, Kasaragod, and Kozhikode will be held on December 11.

Polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the separate notifications issued for urban and rural local bodies.

The polled votes will be counted on December 13, according to the notification. All procedures related to the 2025 polls will be completed by December 18.

For the 2020 local body elections, held in three phases on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kerala had a total of 74,899 candidates.

Candidates can either submit the nominations in person or through a proposer.

Candidates should be a voter in any of the wards in the local body concerned, and should be 21 years of age on the date of submitting the papers. The proposer should be a voter in the same ward. A candidate can submit three sets of nominations.

A candidate can contest in only one ward in a local body. If the candidate files nominations in multiple wards, all the nomination papers will be rejected, the commission said. However, in the three-tier panchayats, a candidate can contest in multiple levels; that is, the candidate can file nominations to contest in the grama, block and district panchayats.

Of the 1,200 local bodies in Kerala, 1,199 will see elections in December. Mattannur municipality in Kannur district will go to the polling booths only in 2027 as the five-year term of the governing council ends only in September that year.

Guidelines for candidature

The State Election Commission had issued guidelines for candidature in the local body elections on Thursday. The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and the Kerala Municipalities Act disqualifies “deaf-mute” individuals from contesting the local body elections. Employees of State and Central governments and local bodies cannot contest. Employees in companies and cooperatives where the government holds not less than 51% share cannot contest. This regulation is also applicable to employees of boards and universities. Part-time employees and those eligible for honorariums also fall in this category.

Anganwadi, Balavadi employees and ASHA workers can contest in the elections. Literacy preraks can contest only in the panchayats. Employees of primary cooperatives where the government does not hold 51% equity can contest. However, KSRTC, KSEB employees, empanelled conductors and people who have gained temporary employment through Employment Exchanges cannot. Chairpersons of Kudumbashree CDS can contest the elections, but CDS accountants cannot.

Those who have run up dues to the government or local bodies are barred from contesting.

People convicted for offences mentioned in Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, individuals sentenced to imprisonment for a period not less than three months for an offence involving moral turpitude, or have been found guilty of corruption are also barred from contesting.