Left Democratic Front
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox political party Template:Communism in India 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> LDF has won the elections to the State Legislature of Kerala in the years 1980,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 1987,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 1996,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2006,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2016<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and had a historic re-election in 2021<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where an incumbent government was re-elected for the first time in 40 years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
LDF has been in power in the State Legislature of Kerala under E. K. Nayanar (1980–81, 1987–91, 1996–2001),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> V. S. Achuthanandan (2006-11),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> E. K. Nayanar served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="The Economic Times">Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Communism sidebar
History
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.<ref name="UN1" /> 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.<ref name="tornquist91">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="SinghKarafin2009">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.[1]<ref name="Hindu">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Desai2006">Template:Cite book</ref> The coalition politics of Kerala began with second election held to the state legislative assembly in 1960.<ref name="UN1">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Luke Koshi, Saritha S. Balan (19 June 2017). "Kerala chronicles: When a coalition of 7 political parties came together only to fall apart" Template:Webarchive. The News Minute. Retrieved 1 January 2018.</ref> 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.<ref name="UN1" /> 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<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="UN1" /> 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.<ref name="The Economic Times"/>
List of LDF Conveners
Template:Multiple image Template:Multiple image
| No | Portrait | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
P. V. Kunjikannan | 1980–1986 |
| 2 | T. K. Ramakrishnan | 1986–1987 | |
| 3 | 
|
M. M. Lawrence | 1987–1998 |
| 4 | Error creating thumbnail: | V. S. Achuthanandan | 1998–2001 |
| 5 |
|
Paloli Mohammed Kutty | 2001–2006 |
| 6 | File:Vaikom viswan.JPG | Vaikom Viswan | 2006–2018 |
| 7 | File:A.vijayaraghavan4.jpg | A. Vijayaraghavan | 2018–2022 |
| 8 | File:E P Jayarajan Minister.jpg | E. P. Jayarajan | 2022–2024<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 9 | File:T.P. Ramakrishnan.jpg | T. P. Ramakrishnan | 2024–present<ref name=":1" /> |
Current members (Main Parties)
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Associate Members
The following are the associate member parties in LDF:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 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)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Chief ministers
List of chief ministers from Left Democratic Front in Kerala (1980–present)
List of chief ministers from parties of Left Democratic Front (1957-1980)
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List of political alliances of Kerala in power (1980–present)
| Template:Tooltip | Political alliance | Total days in governance | Number of Chief ministers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LDF | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | {{#expr:Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days}} days | 3 |
| 2 | UDF | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | {{#expr:Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days +Template:Age in days+Template:Age in days }} days | 3 |
Electoral history
Kerala Legislative Assembly elections
Assembly election result by alliance
| Election | Seats won | Ruling Coalition |
Majority | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | UDF | Others | |||
| 1980 | 93 | 46 | 1 | LDF | 47 |
| 1982 | 63 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white|77 | 0 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | UDF | style="color:Template:Party color;"|14 |
| 1987 | 78 | 61 | 1 | LDF | 17 |
| 1991 | 48 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" |90 | 2 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | UDF | style="color:Template:Party color;"|40 |
| 1996 | 80 | 59 | 1 | LDF | 21 |
| 2001 | 40 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white"|99 | 1 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | UDF | style="color:Template:Party color;"|59 |
| 2006 | 98 | 42 | 0 | LDF | 56 |
| 2011 | 68 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white"|72 | 0 | style="width:15%;"Style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | UDF | style="color:Template:Party color;"|4 |
| 2016 | 91 | 47 | 2 | LDF | 44 |
| 2021 | 99 | 41 | 0 | LDF | 58 |
Indian General Elections (Lok Sabha)
In Kerala Municipal Corporations
| Style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Corporation | Style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Election Year | Style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Seats won/ Total seats |
Style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Sitting side |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thiruvananthapuram Corporation | 2020 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Yes2 |
| Kozhikode Municipal Corporation | Template:Composition bar | Template:Yes2 | |
| Kochi Municipal Corporation | Template:Composition bar | Template:Yes2 | |
| Kollam Municipal Corporation | Template:Composition bar | Template:Yes2 | |
| Thrissur Municipal Corporation | Template:Composition bar | Template:Yes2 | |
| Kannur Municipal Corporation | Template:Composition bar | Template:No2 |
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.
| No. | Party | Current No. of MLAs in Assembly |
|---|---|---|
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 1 | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 62 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 2 | Communist Party of India | 17 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 3 | Kerala Congress (M) | 5 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align:center;" | 4 | Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) | 2 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 5 | Janata Dal (Secular) | 2 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 6 | Kerala Congress (B) | 1 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 7 | Rashtriya Janata Dal (Previously LJD) | 1 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 8 | Indian National League | 1 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 9 | Congress (Secular) | 1 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 10 | Janadhipathya Kerala Congress | 1 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 11 | National Secular Conference | 1 |
| style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" | 12 | LDF Supported Independents | 4 |
| Total Seats | 98 |
The following list shows the MLAs belonging to LDF in the Niyamasabha.
Key
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Rajya Sabha
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| # | Name<ref name="members">Template:Cite web</ref> | Party | Term start<ref name="term">Template:Cite web</ref> | Term end<ref name="term" /> | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. A. Rahim | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | CPM | 03-Apr-2022 | 03-Apr-2028 |
| 2 | V. Sivadasan | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | CPM | 24-Apr-2021 | 23-Apr-2027 |
| 3 | John Brittas | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | CPM | 24-Apr-2021 | 23-Apr-2027 |
| 4 | P. Santhosh Kumar | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | CPI | 03-Apr-2022 | 03-Apr-2028 |
| 5 | P. P. Suneer | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | CPI | 02-Jul-2024 | 01-Jul-2030 |
| 6 | Jose K Mani | style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | KC(M) | 02-Jul-2024 | 01-Jul-2030 |
Lok Sabha
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| # | Constituency | Name | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alathur (SC) | K. Radhakrishnan | bgcolor=Template:Party color| | 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.
| Local self-government body | Local Bodies in lead | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background:Template:Party color" | | style="background:Template:Party color" | | ||||
| LDF | UDF | Others | Tie | ||
| Gram Panchayats | 514 | 321 | 42 | 64 | 941 |
| Block Panchayats | 108 | 38 | 0 | 6 | 152 |
| District Panchayats | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 Template:Efn | 14 |
| Municipalities | 43 | 41 | 2 | 0 Template:Efn | 86 |
| Corporations | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Local self-government body | Local Bodies won | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background:Template:Party color| | style="background:Template:Party color| | style="background:Template:Party color| | style="background:Template:Party color| | ||
| 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
Template:See also 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.<ref name="hindustantimes0">Template:Cite web</ref>
LDF launched its website ahead of 2011 Kerala Assembly Election.<ref name="The Hindu report on coalitions launching websites">Template:Cite news</ref>
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
References
Further reading
External links
Template:Left Democratic Front (Kerala) Template:Communism Template:Marxism–Leninism Template:Kerala topics