Kerala local body polls 2025: AAP to contest in over 400 panchayats and four Corporations

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to contest in over 400 panchayats and four Corporations—Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur, and Kozhikode—in the forthcoming local body polls, determined to register a quantum leap in the number of its elected representatives in the State.

At present, the anti-corruption movement-turned-political outfit has just one elected ward member in Kerala—Beena Kurian from Karinkunnam panchayat in Thodupuzha taluk of Idukki district. The AAP will field candidates in all 14 districts, though not in every local body.

“We will be a decisive force in Idukki, Kottayam and Kozhikode districts where we have a solid volunteer base. We will contest in all wards of the Kozhikode Corporation. Already, a sitting Congress woman councillor from the outgoing council has joined us, while three more women councillors—two from the Congress and one from the CPI(M)—are likely to join in the coming days. Women councillors find backseat driving by their husbands or party leaders disgraceful and are keen to join the AAP, confident that they will be allowed to function independently,” said Vinod Mathew Wilson, State president of the AAP.

Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Malappuram are the other districts where the AAP is focussing, with the party planning to contest in local bodies across all 16 Assembly constituencies in Malappuram. The idea, Mr. Wilson said, was to lay a strong foundation in the local body polls and use it as a launch pad for the Assembly elections scheduled for next year.

The AAP remains determined to go it alone in the local body polls without any understanding with major political fronts. It had a brief alliance with Twenty20, the Kitex Group-backed political outfit in Ernakulam, which did not work out. At the same time, the party is looking to collaborate with like-minded NGOs and civil society movements that share its philosophy, to ensure votes are consolidated.

“The Congress and the CPI(M) have approached us. The Congress wants us not to field candidates where they have a chance, while the CPI(M) is trying to woo us by citing similar guiding principles. But we are determined to contest independently. In many local bodies, our candidates have already completed the first round of campaigning, giving us a head start over others,” Mr. Wilson said.