Election fever will not grip Mattannur municipality in 2025 also

As in the past, Mattannur municipality in Kannur district will sit out as the rest of Kerala faces the local body elections later this year.

This is because the five-year term of the Mattannur municipal council does not coincide with that of the other 1,199 panchayats, municipalities, and corporations in Kerala. The council has two more years left in its term before it faces elections.

The State Election Commission, which prepares the electoral rolls and conducts elections to local bodies, noted on Saturday that the term of the Mattannur council would expire only on September 10, 2027. In the case of the other local bodies, new councils have to take over by December 21 this year.

One of the 87 municipalities in Kerala, Mattannur’s loner status dates back to the 1990s and a political controversy over its elevation to a municipality.

The curious case of Mattannur is once again back in the spotlight with the State Election Commission kicking off the process for the 2025 local body elections. The commission is set to publish the draft voters’ lists on July 23 ahead of its revision for the polls.

The State Delimitation Commission had covered Mattannur also in the Phase 1 of the delimitation exercise which saw the reorganisation of wards in grama panchayats, municipalities, and corporations. The number of wards in the municipality has increased from 35 to 36.

However, the draft rolls for the municipality to be published on July 23 will be based on the old ward structure and not on the basis of the delimited wards, State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan said.

Elections were last held to the municipality in 2022, whereas all the other local bodies elected new councils in 2020. Although the Left Democratic Front (LDF) retained its traditional grip in Mattannur, it won fewer seats (21) in the 2022 elections, while the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) doubled its tally to 14.

The commission said on Saturday that the 2025 elections would be held to 941 grama panchayats, 86 municipalities, six corporations, 152 block panchayats and 14 district panchayats.

The E.K. Nayanar-led Left Democratic Front government had elevated Mattannur panchayat to a municipality in 1990. But the United Democratic Front government which came to power in 1991 cancelled this decision. The LDF moved court, and Mattannur remained in limbo for a number of years.

When the LDF returned to power in 1996, it upgraded Mattannur to a municipality. Mattannur saw municipal elections for the first time in 1997. The LDF had won all the elections since then.