Politics in Kerala is dominated by two political fronts: the Communist party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) since late 1970s. These two parties have alternating in power since 1982. Most of the major political parties in Kerala, except for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), belong to one or the other of these two alliances, often shifting allegiances a number of time. In Kerala, it is difficult for a single party to contest and win even a single seat, because the voter perception is towards voting for a front. The BJP has not been able to register its presence in the assembly in spite of the fact that it is the third largest party in Kerala after Congress and CPM.[2] According to 2011 Kerala Legislative Assembly election results, the UDF has a majority in the state assembly
Other popular regional parties are
- Indian Union Muslim League, is a powerful pro-Muslim community oriented party, which was started as Muslim League prior to partition of India, yet decided to remain their allegiance to India after partition, when the original Muslim League went to Pakistan. The IUML-Kerala unit is the only Muslim League unit, which declared its allegiance and loyalty to India, hence became a state party, in post-independent India. The party has strongholds mostly in Muslim dominated districts like Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kasargod. and they form the second largest party within UDF. Mass population of E. K. Faction of Muslims support Indian Union Muslim League in most of the elections.
- Kerala Congress, which has more than 4 denominations, after breaking away from original party, has strong influence among settlement populations in Hilly regions. The various Kerala Congress denominations are primarily patronized by Orthodox Christian community and Nair populations mostly in Central Travancore areas like Kottayam, Iddukki and Pathanamthitta areas. Today, most of Kerala Congress parties are with UDF.
- Socialist groups, consisting of several small fragmented parties like NCP, SJD-S, JDS, Congress-S, are mainly pro-center left socialist parties having very limited influences in few pocket areas. Most of the socialist groups are with LDF, though at few instances, some of them changed their loyalties to UDF.
- Communist parties, consists of various communist parties, which have broken away from CPIM which mostly are Center left parties and few are extreme left. While a few centre left parties like RSP have joined with LDF, those broken away from CPIM, like CMP, JSS etc., lead by erstwhile CPIM veterans who were expelled from CPIM have joined with UDF.
