# Political parties in Kerala

Kerala's major political parties are aligned under two coalitions, namely the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) since the late 1970s. Kerala was the first Indian state to have coalition government as early as 1961 .

## Pre-poll alliances
### State-level alliances

* Left Democratic Front
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), also known as Left Front (Kerala), is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the state of Kerala, India. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. 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. LDF has won the elections to the State Legislature of Kerala in the years 1980, 1987, 1996, 2006, 2016 and had a historic re-election in 2021 where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years. 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.
LDF has been in power in the State Legislature of Kerala under E. K. Nayanar (1980–1981, 1987–1991, 1996–2001), V. S. Achuthanandan (2006–2011), Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current). E. K. Nayanar served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala.
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.
* United Democratic Front
The United Democratic Front (UDF) is the Indian National Congress-led alliance of centre to centre-right political parties in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the other being Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front, each of which has been in power alternately since 1980 E. K. Nayanar ministry. Most of the United Democratic Front constituents are members of the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at pan-India level.
United Democratic Front was created by the Indian National Congress (then known as Congress-Indira) party leader K. Karunakaran in 1979, as a successor to the existing Congress-led alliance. The alliance first came to power in 1981 (K. Karunakaran ministry) and has won elections to the state legislature of Kerala in the years 1982 (Karunakaran ministry), 1991 (Karunakaran and A. K. Antony ministries), 2001 (Antony and Oommen Chandy ministries), and 2011 (Oommen Chandy ministry). The alliance currently acts as the opposition in the state legislature of Kerala (after the 2021 legislative assembly election). United Democratic Front leaders V. D. Satheesan and K. Sudhakaran currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President respectively.
The alliance currently consists of Indian National Congress, Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Joseph), Kerala Congress (Jacob), Revolutionary Socialist Party and a variety of other smaller parties. The alliance follows big tent policy and includes a variety political parties.
* National Democratic Alliance

### National-level alliances

* INDIA(INC+)
* NDA(BJP+)

## National parties

| Political party | Political party | Abbr. | Flag | Electoral symbol | Political position | Founded | Founder | KL unit leader | Alliance | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Political party | Political party | Abbr. | Flag | Electoral symbol | Political position | Founded | Founder | KL unit leader | Alliance | Lok Sabha | Rajya Sabha | Kerala Legislative Assembly |
| | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | CPIM | | | Left-wing | 7 November 1964 | E. M. S. Namboodiripad | M. V. Govindan | LDF | 1 / 20 | 4 / 9 | 61 / 120 |
| | Indian National Congress | INC | | | Centre to Centre-left | 28 December 1885 | Allan Octavian Hume | K. Sudhakaran | UDF | 14 / 20 | 1 / 9 | 20 / 140 |
| | Bharatiya Janata Party | BJP | | | Right to Far-right | 6 April 1980 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | K. Surendran | NDA | 1 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Aam Aadmi Party | AAP | | | Centre | 26 November 2012 | Arvind Kejriwal | P. C. Cyriac | N/A | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Bahujan Samaj Party | BSP | | | Centre | 14 April 1984 | Kanshi Ram | Advocate Pralhadan | N/A | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |

## State parties

| Party | Party | Abbr. | Flag | Election symbol | Political position | Ideology | Founded | Leader(s) | Kerala Unit Leader | Alliance | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Abbr. | Flag | Election symbol | Political position | Ideology | Founded | Leader(s) | Kerala Unit Leader | Alliance | Lok Sabha | Rajya Sabha | State assemblies |
| | Communist Party of India | CPI | | | Left-wing | Communism Marxism–Leninism Anti-capitalism Socialism Secularism | 1925 | D. Raja | Kanam Rajendran | LDF | 0 / 20 | 2 / 9 | 17 / 140 |
| | Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) | NCP-SCP | | | Centre | Indian nationalism Secularism | 2024 | Sharad Pawar | PC Chacko | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 2 / 140 |
| | Kerala Congress (M) | KECM | | | Centre-Right | Welfare Democratic socialism | 1979 | Jose K. Mani | Jose K. Mani | LDF | 1 / 20 | 1 / 9 | 5 / 140 |
| | Janata Dal (Secular) | JDS | | | Centre-left to left-wing | Secularism | 1999 | H. D. Deve Gowda | Mathew T. Thomas | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 2 / 140 |
| | Rashtriya Janata Dal | RJD | | | Centre-left | Socialism | 1997 | Lalu Prasad Yadav Tejashwi Yadav | Adv. John John | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Indian Union Muslim League | IUML | | | Centre-right | Muslim interests Social conservatism | 1948 | Hyderali Shihab Thangal | Sadiq Ali Thangal | UDF | 2 / 20 | 1 / 9 | 15 / 140 |
| | Revolutionary Socialist Party | RSP | | | Far-left | Communism Marxism–Leninism Revolutionary socialism | 1940 | Manoj Bhattacharya | A. A. Aziz | UDF | 1 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |

## Registered recognized/unrecognized parties

| Party | Party | Abbr. | Flag | Election symbol | Political position | Ideology | Founded | Leader(s) | Kerala Unit Leader | Alliance | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Abbr. | Flag | Election symbol | Political position | Ideology | Founded | Leader(s) | Kerala Unit Leader | Alliance | Lok Sabha | Rajya Sabha | State assemblies |
| | Kerala Congress | KEC | | | Centre-Right | Welfare | 1964 | P. J. Joseph | P. J. Joseph | UDF | 1 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 2 / 140 |
| | Kerala Congress (B) | KECB | | | | | 1977 | K. B. Ganesh Kumar | K. B. Ganesh Kumar | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Congress (Secular) | CONS | | | | | 1978 | Kadannappalli Ramachandran | Kadannappalli Ramachandran | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Kerala Congress (Jacob) | KECJ | | | Centre-Right | Secularism Socialism Democracy | 1993 | Anoop Jacob | Anoop Jacob | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Indian National League | INL | | | | Secularism | 1994 | Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait | Ahamed Devarkovil | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | National Secular Conference | NSC | | | | | 2011 | V. Abdurahiman | V. Abdurahiman | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Revolutionary Marxist Party of India | RMPI | | | Left-Wing | Communism Marxism-Leninism | 2016 | Mangat Ram Pasla | K. K. Rema | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Janadhipathya Kerala Congress | JKC | | | Centre-Left | Socialism | 2016 | Dr. K. C. Joseph | Dr. K. C. Joseph | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Revolutionary Socialist Party (Leninist) | RSPL | | | Far-Left | Communism Marxism–Leninism Revolutionary socialism | 2016 | Kovoor Kunjumon | Kovoor Kunjumon | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy | JSS | | | | Communism Marxism | 1994 | Rajan Babu | Rajan Babu | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Communist Marxist Party | CMP | | | | Communism Marxism Luxemburgism | 1986 | C. P. John | C. P. John | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | All India Forward Bloc | AIFB | | | Left-Wing | Left-wing nationalism Socialism Anti-imperialism Marxism | 1939 | Naren Chatterjee | G. Devarajan | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Welfare Party of India | WPI | | | | Social Justice Democracy Welfare State | 2011 | Dr. Raisudheen Baidya | Razak Paleri | | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Kerala Congress (Skaria Thomas) | KECST | | | | | 2015 | Binoy Joseph | Binoy Joseph | LDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Bharath Dharma Jana Sena | BDJS | | | | | 2015 | Thushar Vellappally | Thushar Vellappally | NDA | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Kerala Kamaraj Congress | KKC | | | | | 2016 | Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan | Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan | NDA | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha | JRS | | | | Dalit rights Adivasi rights | 2016 | C. K. Janu | C. K. Janu | NDA | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | National Janata Dal | NJD | | | | | 2018 | Adv John John | Adv John John | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Kerala Democratic Party | KDP | | | Centre-Left | Democratic socialism Liberalism | 2021 | Mani C. Kappan | Mani C. Kappan | UDF | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | Kerala Congress Democratic | KCD | | | Centre-Right | Welfare | 2024 | Saji Manjakadambil | Saji Manjakadambil | NDA | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |
| | Democratic Movement of Kerala | DMK | | | | Secularism | 2024 | P. V. Anvar | P. V. Anvar | | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 1 / 140 |
| | AnnA DHRM Party Of India | AnnA DHRM Party | | | | Social Democracy Through Common man | 2020 | Thathu Annan | Saji Kollam | | 0 / 20 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 140 |