Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): ‘Thiruvananthapuram Corporation will be led by a BJP Mayor this time. An NDA Mayor would be there to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his next visit to the State Capital,’ these were one of the campaign slogans echoing in Kerala for the past one month.
When the District President was fielded in the Corporation elections, Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was claiming that they would rule Kerala’s Capital city. However, the BJP could not win anywhere in Kerala, including Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur corporations, where it had rested all hopes and expectations in the local body elections. Among other setbacks, BJP’s State Leader B Gopalakrishnan was also defeated in Thrissur. The announcements and declarations claiming the NDA would gain more seats in Kochi, Kollam and Kozhikode Corporations were also in vain.
The defeat of BJP party’s former district president K Suresh in the only sitting seat for the NDA front in Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayath was a major setback for the BJP.
The BJP, which had sought the people’s mandate citing the ‘achievements’ in Modi governance at the Centre and digging on the Sabarimala women entry issue, could not translate the burden of over expectations into actual votes.
The BJP had gone sloganeering that they would gain more than double the wards and wins this time than in the 2015 local body elections. However, the only relief for BJP at this point is that the party could get more seats in the Municipalities and it could win in more Grama Panchayaths than the previous elections. Along with Palakkad Municipality, where the BJP has retained power, the NDA has managed to win the Pandalam Municipality also this time. While only 13 Panchayaths were won by the BJP in the previous local body elections, this time there are 26 Panchayaths where the BJP and NDA would rule.
Meanwhile, the NDA has not been victorious in even one of the 152 Block Panchayaths in Kerala. The party could only be a minor influence in the District Panchayaths. After the results are out, the BJP, which had been focusing on allegations against the LDF to lead their election campaigns, alleged that the UDF has teamed up with the Left and voted for the LDF to defeat BJP.
Read: Kerala civic polls: Left shines in Kerala local body polls, BJP gains more seats
