The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) political affairs committee (PAC) met here on Sunday, purportedly to usher in a laser-like focus among the party’s rank-and-file on winning the upcoming local body polls. 

It reportedly aspired to identify organisational weaknesses, including the lack of booth committees in some local body wards, and ensure better cohesion with alliance partners at the ward level.

The PAC also reportedly weighed the possibility of a byelection in the Nilambur Assembly constituency following P.V. Anvar’s resignation and the political implications of its outcome for opposing fronts.

A party insider said the opposing fronts would give significant weightage to the bypoll, given its potential of being interpreted as a bellwether of Kerala’s voting behaviour of the Assembly elections in 2026. Hence, it was important for the United Democratic Front to wrest the constituency from the Left Democratic Front. Hence, he indicated that the PAC might take a benign view of Mr. Anvar’s request to include the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Opposition alliance.

Another party insider said the Congress viewed the local body poll campaign as a dress rehearsal for the Assembly polls in 2026. Hence, the Congress would likely focus on winning in the UDF, LDF, and BJP strongholds instead of merely building support in what the Opposition deemed safe constituencies. 

Congress leaders also seemed acutely aware that the outcomes of the local body elections were notoriously difficult to predict, and often hinged on hyper-local and State issues. 

Hence, the Congress wanted to calibrate ground-reality-specific campaigns that resonated among voters and shed the “assumption” that it would sweep the local body polls.

Moreover, senior PAC members reportedly cautioned that speculation about the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leadership after the 2026 Assembly bypolls might portray a divided house and not augur well for the UDF’s prospects.

Last week, All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal reiterated that such discussions were not on the PAC’s agenda.

KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, UDF convener M.M. Hassan, former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, Mr. Venugopal, and AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala affairs Deepadas Munshi attended the meeting. Congress Working Committee permanent invitee Ramesh Chennithala attended the meeting online.