THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The anti-incumbency undercurrent that shaped the 2025 local body elections also dimmed the electoral ambitions of most out-of-state parties, thwarting their efforts to consolidate a foothold in the state. This time, only parties embedded in Kerala’s established political alliances managed to post any gains.

Prominent out-of-state parties such as the RJD and the JD(S), which contested under the LDF banner, performed relatively better, largely in rural areas. While the RJD won around 63 of the nearly 200 wards it contested, the JD(S) secured 44 seats.

“Most of our victories came from grama panchayats in Palakkad,” said JD(S) state president Mathew T Thomas. The All India Forward Bloc, that is part of the UDF and LJP, an NDA constituent, managed to win one grama panchayat ward each.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had skipped the 2020 local body polls, fielded 380 candidates this time. Its gains, however, remained confined to rural pockets, with the party failing to make any impact in urban centres traditionally considered its fertile ground.

The party, which contests under the ‘broom’ symbol, won the Karimkunnam ward in the Karimkunnam grama panchayat where it had won another seat in a bypoll in 2023. AAP also picked up two additional wards: Areekkara in Uzhavoor grama panchayat in Idukki district and Mullankolly in Mullankolly grama panchayat in Wayanad.