The Kerala Government is decided by the residents of Kerala. Regular elections are conducted to choose the appropriate government. This enables the representatives of people to become a part of the legislature. Thus the process of law making functions based upon the opinion of the people. Every citizen has the right to vote according to their choice.
The people elect those candidates whom they think is capable of ruling properly and whose political ideas are supported by them. Each candidate has different ideas to plan out. In order to know what are the ideologies of various candidates it is better to examine the political party to which they belong. There are various political parties and they have been formed in order to protect the right and interests of the people. These people may be from different caste, religion and culture and have different political ideologies. As there are many groups of people, many political parties are formed for each group.
There are two types of parties; they are national party and state party. A national party is one which is recognised in 4 or more states. Whereas a state party is one which is confined to just 3 or less states. Each party is represented by separate symbols. The national parties have a permanent symbol and cannot be used by any other party. It is the election commission who assigns symbols for representing these parties.
The party that gains the majority support forms the ruling party. The leader of the ruling party is then invited by the Governor to form the government. The opposition party also elects a leader. The leader of the ruling party is sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala by the Governor. The various other leaders are also selected who are to head the ministries of the government. All together constitute to form the executive of the government. Mr. Ommen Chandy is the present Chief Minister of Kerala and he belongs to Congress (UDF). The opposition party is the LDF.
NATIONAL PARTIES
BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party
CPI – Communist Party of India
CPM – Communist Party of India (Marxist)
INC – Indian National Congress
NCP – Nationalist Congress Party
STATE PARTIES
CPI(ML)(L) – Communist Party of India (Marxist-Lenninist) (Liberation)
JD(S) – Janata Dal (Secular)
JD(U) – Janata Dal (United)
KEC – Kerala Congress
KEC(M) – Kerala Congress (M)
MUL – Muslim League Kerala State Committee
RJD – Rashtriya Janata Dal
SP – Revolutionary Socialist Party
SHS – Shivsena
REGISTERED (Unrecognised) PARTIES
AKMDMP – All Kerala M.G.R. Dravida Munnetra Party
CMPKSC – Communist Marxist Party Kerala State Committee
INGP – Indian National Green Party
INL – Indian National League
JP – Janata Party
JPSS – Janadhipathiya Samrekshna Samiti
KEC(B) – Kerala Congress (B)
KEC(J) – Kerala Congress (Jacob)
LJNSP – Lok Jan Shakti Party
RSPK(B) – Revolutionary Socialist Party of Kerala (Bolshevik)
SJP(R) – Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
SLAP – Social Action Party
UIPP – United India Peoples Party