The writing on the wall is clear for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), which is in its second term in the State Assembly and has tasted back-to-back wins in the local body elections of 2015 and 2020: it’s going to face strong headwinds as it gears up for the Assembly polls three months down the line. There’s a subterranean wave of anti-incumbency sweeping the State.

But there is more to the win posted by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) than meets the eye. The rout of the Left is more pronounced and decisive in Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Malappuram districts — old citadels of the UDF — where a consolidation of anti-Left votes seems to have taken place.

Across the State, urban voters in municipalities and Corporations turned their back on the Left, favouring t

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