A s vote counting kicked off on Saturday morning in the Kerala Local Body Elections 2025, television screens were flooded with images of CPM’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekar, and Congress leaders, including VD Satheesan, KPCC president Sunny Joseph, and veteran Ramesh Chennithala. Curiously, flashes of Shashi Tharoor also made brief appearances, underscoring the ongoing uncertainty over who might emerge as the face of the Congress-led UDF ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

Despite speculation over who might lead the UDF in 2026, the local body results made it clear that voter decisions were influenced less by individual leaders and more by broader political and local issues. Internal Congress rifts, including repeated interventions by the AICC over the Pala

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