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In the politics of Kerala, socialism has a democratic face. Kerala is one of the world's few regions where the communist parties are democratically elected, through the parliamentary democracy. Kerala has single-chambered legislature. Politics of Kerala is dominated by two major political alliances, such as the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front. The former alliance is led by CPI(M), whereas the later is led by the Indian National Congress.
Presently LDF is the ruling coalition. The Malayali people are politically conscious and they are aware of the political happenings of the state. Kerala's government includes executive, legislature and judiciary. The judiciary includes the lower courts, the tribunals and the High Court. The High Court has the offices of the Chief Justice, 26 permanent and 2 additional justices. The legislative assembly of Kerala consists of people's representatives. These members belong to different political parties.
The leader of the majority party or coalition is invited by the Governor to become the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers carry out the executive functions.
The Panchayats and the Municipal Administration constitute Kerala's arm of self governance. The local government of Kerala consists of 991 Gram Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 5 Municipal Corporations and 54 Municipalities. There are a total of 1214 local self government bodies. The self government plays an important role in the implementation of developmental works and the formulation of policy.
Kerala sends 20 members to Lok Sabha and nine members to the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha constituencies are spread across its various districts such as Kannur, Manjeri, Ernakulam, Kasaragod, Adoor, Kollam, Thituvananthapuram, Ottapalam, Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Ponnani. Ottapalam and Adoor constituencies have the reservations for the candidates of scheduled castes and tribes. Out of the 140 seats in the legislative assembly, 126 seats are open for the general candidates and 13 are reserved for the scheduled castes, and 1 seat is reserved for the scheduled tribes. The Returning Officer conducts the elections in the assembly constituencies. The District Collectors of Kerala function as Returning Officers during assembly elections.
When Kerala was merged with Travancore to form a separate state, the state was under the rule of the President. The first assembly election in Kerala took place in March 1957, which saw the first democratically elected Communist party of the world. EMS Namboodiripad was the first Chief Minister of Kerala. His government signaled the beginning of five decades of Marxist influence in the politics of this vastly religious state, which clearly shows that the people in Kerala firmly segregate religion and politics.
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