Kerala began the counting of votes for the 2025 local body elections at 8 a.m. today, December 13. Initial trends are expected to appear by 8:30 a.m., with full results due by Saturday afternoon, the State Election Commission (SEC) said. The elections, held in two phases on December 9 and 11, saw a 73.69% voter turnout. More than 2.1 crore of the 2.86 crore voters across 14 districts cast their votes. The elections covered 23,573 wards in 1,199 local bodies, including grama panchayats, block panchayats, district panchayats, municipalities, and corporations. The SEC has set up 244 counting centers statewide. Postal ballots for district panchayats will be counted at District Collectorates. Counting began after verifying the seals on electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the presence of candidates or their agents. In the 2020 local elections, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) had a strong lead. They won 44 of 87 municipalities, 5 of 6 corporations, and a majority in panchayats. This year, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) aim to increase their seats. The local polls are seen as a key test ahead of the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections. The SEC postponed elections in three wards due to candidate deaths during the campaign. Mattannur municipality will have elections later in 2027. For live updates, voters and parties can visit the SEC’s official trend websites: https://trend.sec.kerala.gov.in, https://lbtrend.kerala.gov.in, and https://trend.kerala.nic.in.