New Delhi, Dec. 14 -- The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), Kerala's primary Opposition bloc, secured victory in the crucial local body elections, the results of which were announced on Saturday. The results assume significance as they come ahead of next year's Kerala Assembly elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also scripted its first win in a municipal corporation (Thiruvananthapuram) in the state in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as a watershed moment.'

Many rural and urban local bodies that were long considered strongholds of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and had withstood repeated electoral challenges have been taken over by the UDF this time.

The Congress-led UDF emerged as the biggest ...