Thiruvananthapuram: After nearly a decade and a half on the back foot, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is witnessing an unusual surge of confidence as Kerala heads into the crucial local body elections.

The front, which last tasted sweeping success in 2010, believes it has finally rebuilt the organisational muscle required to challenge the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) ahead of the 2026 Assembly election.

Senior leaders say morale within the alliance is the strongest it has been in years, despite setbacks in 2015 and 2020 that allowed the LDF to tighten its grip on grassroots bodies.

With the upcoming polls being viewed as a make-or-break contest, both the Congress and its allies are treating the exercise as a prelude to a larger electoral comeback.

“This time, we are moving with absolute clarity,” a senior Congress political affairs committee member said. “We will not settle for anything short of victory.”

The shift in momentum began at the party’s Wayanad chintan shivir, where the Congress unveiled Mission 2025, a detailed blueprint for rejuvenating local units and sharpening campaign strategy.

KPCC working president PC Vishnunadh said party cadres began outreach much earlier than their rivals.

“Our workers were at people’s doorsteps before anyone else even launched their preparations. We circulated leaflets on the failures of both the state and central governments and empowered ward committees to raise funds independently through coupons,” he said.

A key thrust area this time has been voter enrolment, with the UDF ensuring that supporters traditionally aligned with the front are added to the rolls. The Congress’s candidate selection—often marred by factional flare-ups—has been unusually smooth.

In the Thiruvananthapuram corporation, the party finalised its list even as the CPM and BJP were still negotiating their picks. Leaders say this discipline marks a decisive break from 2020, when rebels cost the UDF control of Kochi and Thrissur corporations.

Vishnunadh said organisational repairs at the micro level have paid off. KPCC leaders were assigned district-level responsibilities, while senior leaders were deployed to manage the six corporations.

Delegating candidate selection to ward committees helped minimise defections and kept internal dissent in check.

On the campaign front, the UDF plans to aggressively foreground the Sabarimala gold-theft controversy while simultaneously tapping into any simmering anti-incumbency against the LDF government.

The front’s messaging will also centre on unemployment, the state’s worsening fiscal condition, and issues in the health sector—alongside hyperlocal problems raised by communities.

With the Congress betting heavily on renewed grassroots enthusiasm, the local body polls are shaping up to be the alliance’s most critical political test in years—one that could determine the tone of Kerala’s 2026 electoral battle.