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