The United Democratic Front (UDF) is struggling to pick its candidate for Kochi Corporation mayor. A key Congress core committee meeting on Monday evening (December 22, 2025) ended without a clear decision. The 42 elected Congress councillors remain divided. The committee included UDF chairman Dominic Presentation, District Congress Committee president Mohammed Shiyas, and senior leader N. Venugopal. Deepthy Mary Varghese, the KPCC general secretary and Stadium division councillor, was the initial frontrunner. However, she has lost ground due to group politics. Ms. Varghese, linked to the K.C. Venugopal faction in the ‘I’ group, has little support among councillors. "She found herself with little support, including from the local MLA and MP," said party sources. V.K. Minimol from Palarivattom division and State Mahila Congress vice president is emerging as the preferred candidate of the larger ‘I’ group and Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan. Senior councillors say she has backing from at least 17 councillors, with 3 more supporting both her and Ms. Varghese. However, if looking purely at Congress councillor numbers, Shiny Mathew, a veteran councillor from Fort Kochi and backed by around 20 councillors of the ‘A’ faction, could become the favourite. She also has strong support from the Latin Catholic Church. With these splits, councillor preference alone won’t decide the mayoral choice. The party leadership's final word will be key. The mayoral term might also be split between factions. Within the party, some feel the State leadership should have made its position clear earlier. This might have prevented such faction fights. The battle for Kochi mayor looks far from over.