The results of the civic body elections in Kerala amount to a severe drubbing for the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF). From Vellarada at the southern tip of the state to Manjeshwaram in the north, the verdict is unmistakable: the LDF has lost the confidence and imagination of large sections of the electorate. The most telling symbol of this decline is the loss of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to the BJP. In many towns and villages, the LDF did not even emerge as the principal challenger; it finished a poor third, behind the BJP. This is a remarkable reversal for a coalition that once prided itself on deep grassroots penetration and ideological clarity. Anti-incumbency played its part, but it........

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