Thiruvananthapuram: Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi scripted history by winning the maiden Lok Sabha seat for the BJP from Kerala. He captured Thrissur in central Kerala, a sitting seat of the Congress, by a margin of nearly 75,000 votes.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) again repeated a spectacular performance in Kerala by winning 18 out of 20 seats as against 19 in 2019. The ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) faced a big embarrassment by winning only one seat while losing the lone seat it won in 2019.
Anti-incumbency against the BJP government at the Centre and support of minority communities seemed to have helped the UDF this time too apart from the influence of Rahul Gandhi who retained the Wayanad seat with a margin of around 3.6 lakh votes, which is lower than the 2019 margin of 4.3 lakh. Anti-incumbency against the Pinarayi Vijayan government seemed to have proved costly for the CPM, which is now in power only in Kerala.
Apart from opening an account to the Lok Sabha, BJP could also increase its vote share from around 13% in 2019 to nearly 16.7%.
Gopi's victory at Thrissur is the outcome of the hard efforts since 2019. Though he finished in third place in the 2019 LS polls and the 2021 Assembly polls, the leap of BJP's vote share from 12 to 17% in Thrissur made Gopi focus on the constituency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's back-to-back road shows and participation at Gopi's daughter's wedding at the famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple also seemed to have helped him.
In what was widely criticised as a bid to woo the Christian vote bank, Gopi offered a golden crown to a popular church in the constituency. A row over Thrissur Pooram festival just ahead of the polls too seemed to have favoured the BJP.
Congress received a shocker as party senior leader K Muraleedharan was pushed to the third place IN Thrissur, while CPI's V S Sunilkumar became runner-up. This has triggered allegations of Congress-BJP undercurrents.
BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar put up a good fight against Congress sitting MP Shashi Tharoor at Thiruvananthapuram by maintaining a lead of over 10,000 at one stage. But the voters in coastal areas of the constituency helped Tharoor retain the seat for the fourth consecutive time with a margin of around 16,000 votes..
The other major winners from Kerala include AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and Kerala PCC president K Sudhakaran.
Former defence minister A K Antony's son Anil K Antony, Union minister of state V Muraleedharan and BJP state president K Surendran were among the NDA candidates who finished in third place.
The lone woman sitting MP from Kerala, Ramya Haridas, lost the seat to CPM senior leader and Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan. CPM has demanded a recount at Attingal where sitting MP Adoor Prakash of Congress secured a thin margin of 685 votes over CPM MLA V Joy. In another major setback for the CPM, former health minister K K Shailaja lost to Congress MLA Shafi Paramabil at Vatakara in north Kerala.
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