The Left Democratic Front (LDF) also known as Left Front (Kerala) is an alliance of

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political parties in the state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. 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 The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

-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 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and had a historic re-election in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 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 A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...

and various smaller parties. LDF has been in power in the State Legislature of Kerala under

E. K. Nayanar Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (9 December 191919 May 2004) was an Indian Communist politician of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M). He served three terms as the Chief Minister of Kerala (1980–1981, 1987–1991 and 1996–2001) for ...

(1980–1981, 1987–1991, 1996–2001),

V. S. Achuthanandan Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan (born 20 October 1923) is an Indian Communist politician who was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011. At 82, he is the oldest person to have assumed the office. He served as the chairman of Admin ...

(2006–2011), Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current).

served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

. The alliance led by Pinarayi Vijayan returned to power in

2016 Assembly Election Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

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 The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

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. Akg_Bhavan_Thiruvananthapuram

Current members

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.

1957 Kerala Legislative Assembly election The Kerala Legislative Assembly election of 1957 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 commu ...

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 Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

-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 the second ever Communist government to be democratically elected, after Communist success in the 1945 elections in the

Republic of San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

, a microstate in Europe. The coalition politics of Kerala began with second election held to the state legislative assembly in 1960. The

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

first came into power in Kerala in 1967, under Seven party front, which was an alliance of CPI(M),

IUML The Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the I. U. M. L. or the League) is an Indian political party primarily based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is recognised as a State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India. The first ...

, 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

and

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

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

and

and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the

. 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

sworn in as the

on 26 March 1980 for the first time in 1980. He formed government with the support of

Congress (A) Congress (A) was a political party founded by A. K. Antony when he split from the Indian National Congress (U) a splinter group of the Indian National Congress. The party was primarily active in Kerala. The party merged with the Congress (I) in 1 ...

under

A. K. Antony Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 28 December 1940) is an Indian politician and attorney who was the 23rd Defence Minister of India. He was Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, from Kerala from 1985 to 1995 and again from 2005 to 2022. He ...

and

Kerala Congress Kerala Congress is an Indian political party founded at Kottayam, Kerala in October, 1964, by a block of former Indian National Congress leaders led by K. M. George. The party is primarily active in central Kerala. The establishment of Kerala ...

under

K. M. Mani Karingozhackal Mani Mani (30 January 1933 – 9 April 2019) was an Indian politician and the chairman of Kerala Congress (M), one of the main factions of Kerala Congress, a party born in the Travancore or Central South Kerala region which foc ...

, Nayanar later became the longest serving

, ever since 1980 election, the power has been clearly alternating between the two alliances till the

. 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

. The

elections led

, and the

elections led by

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

to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office.

List of LDF Conveners

Chief ministers

Pre-Left Democratic Front Parties chief ministers (1956 – 1979)

List of chief ministers by length of term (1980 - present)

Kerala_Council_of_Ministers_1987_EK_Nayanar

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

Electoral history

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 The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 c ...

The following list shows the MLAs belonging to LDF in the Niyamasabha. Key

Rajya Sabha

Keys:

Lok Sabha

Kerala local body elections

The Left Democratic Front (LDF), who also forms the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

, won in more than half of all

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

s and block panchayats, two-thirds of district panchayats and in five out of six municipal corporations.

Political activism

On 7 December 2011, the LDF organized a 208KM 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.

Notes

References

External links

Official website for election Results

LDF Keralam
{{Kerala topics Civic nationalism Political parties in Kerala Political party alliances in India 1979 establishments in Kerala Political parties established in 1979

Current members

History

Early years (1957 - 1979)

Formation of LDF (1979)

Left Democratic Front (1980 - Present)

List of LDF Conveners

Chief ministers

Pre-Left Democratic Front Parties chief ministers (1956 – 1979)

List of chief ministers by length of term (1980 - present)

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

Electoral history

Electoral history

List of elected members

Kerala Legislative Assembly

Rajya Sabha

Lok Sabha

Kerala local body elections

Political activism

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links