Left Democratic Front

Early years (1957-1979)

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. It was one of the first Communist governments to be democratically elected, after Communist successes in the 1945 elections in the Republic of San Marino, a microstate in Europe, and the 1946 Czechoslovak elections. The coalition politics of Kerala began with second election held to the state legislative assembly in 1960. 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. 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. 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)

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 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.

List of LDF Conveners

Current members

Associate Members

The following are the associate member parties in LDF:

• Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas)
• National Secular Conference
• Marxist-Leninist Party of India (Red Flag)
• National League led by Abdul Wahab

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

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

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

Kerala Legislative Assembly elections

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

Assembly election result by alliance

Indian General Elections (Lok Sabha)

In Kerala Municipal Corporations

Kerala Legislative Assembly

The LDF is the official opposition alliance in the Kerala Niyamasabha which has 35 seats out of the 140.

Rajya Sabha

Keys:

  CPI(M) (3)   CPI (2)   KC(M) (1)

Lok Sabha

  CPI(M) (1)

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.

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.

LDF launched its website ahead of 2011 Kerala Assembly Election.