Former Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) R Sreelekha has scripted a remarkable political debut by winning the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation elections from the Sasthamangalam ward on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, securing a commanding majority and underlining a decisive shift in the capital city’s political landscape.
Sreelekha’s victory is historic on multiple counts. A trailblazer in public service, she is Kerala’s first woman IPS officer and also the first woman from the state to rise to the rank of DGP. Her transition from a distinguished police career to electoral politics, capped by a resounding win in her maiden contest, has drawn statewide attention. Expressing confidence even during the campaign, Sreelekha had noted that no candidate had ever secured such a decisive lead in Sasthamangalam. The results bore out her assessment. She polled 1,774 votes, comfortably defeating the CPM’s young candidate Amrutha, who secured 1,066 votes. The margin reflected not only personal popularity but also a broader voter endorsement cutting across traditional political lines.
Thanking the electorate after her victory, Sreelekha said the mandate was an opportunity to work honestly at the grassroots and assured voters that no promise made during the campaign would go to waste. She described the verdict as a responsibility rather than a personal triumph. Sreelekha’s candidature itself had been a surprise move by the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram. Though Sasthamangalam is currently a BJP-held ward, fielding a retired DGP for a corporation election was unprecedented in Kerala’s local body politics. The decision drew intense attention and also triggered controversies during the campaign. However, attempts by rival groups to derail her prospects by raising various issues failed to dent her support, with the final result indicating a clear and comfortable mandate. Interestingly, Sreelekha had earlier remarked that she entered the electoral fray without overthinking the outcome, saying she began the campaign “out of fear of being a candidate” and without dwelling too much on victory or defeat. That understated approach, combined with her reputation for integrity and firmness, appears to have resonated strongly with voters.
A 1987-batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, R Sreelekha’s public service career spans over 33 years and is marked by several significant postings and achievements. She served as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Cherthala and Thrissur, and later as Superintendent of Police in districts including Thrissur, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. She also worked for nearly four years with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its Kochi unit, where her tough enforcement style earned her the popular moniker “Raid Sreelekha”. Beyond core policing roles, Sreelekha held senior positions in several public sector undertakings, including the Rubber Marketing Federation, the Kerala State Construction Corporation, and the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation. As Transport Commissioner, she was widely credited with initiatives that helped reduce road fatalities in the state, further enhancing her public profile. Sreelekha retired as DGP in 2020 and joined the BJP five years later. Speaking to the media after entering politics, she had described her candidature as historic, noting that retired IPS officers are rarely fielded in local body elections. “It’s an opportunity for me to show that the BJP wants even senior-ranking officers to work directly at the grassroots,” she had said.
Her personal victory coincided with a watershed moment for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Kerala’s capital. Ending over four decades of Left Democratic Front (LDF) dominance, the NDA secured power in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, one of the most important civic bodies in the state. In the 101-member Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, elections were held in 100 wards, with polling in one ward postponed following the death of a candidate. Of the 100 seats that went to vote, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) emerged as the single largest bloc, winning 50 wards, while the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) was reduced to 29 wards. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) secured 19 wards, and two seats were won by Independents. The results marked a decisive shift in the political balance of the state capital, ending the Left’s decades-long dominance of the civic body. The broader electoral trends underline the scale of the BJP’s rise in the city. In the 100-seat Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the CPM-led LDF, which once held 52 seats, saw its strength sharply curtailed. The BJP-led NDA, which had managed only six seats in 2010, made a significant leap by winning 35 seats in both the 2015 and 2020 elections, before emerging as the dominant force in the latest polls. In contrast, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which had won 42 seats in 2010, steadily declined to 21 in 2015 and just 10 in 2020.
R Sreelekha’s emphatic win from Sasthamangalam has thus become emblematic of a larger political transformation underway in Kerala’s capital. Combining a personal narrative of firsts with the BJP’s growing urban footprint, her victory stands as one of the most striking stories to emerge from the 2025 Kerala local body elections.
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