Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

No cheer in BJP

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The voting characteristics emerging from preliminary estimates of voting percentages and other reports have diminished any hopes the Bharatiya Janata Party had of bettering its performance in Kerala over the 2004 elections.

In 2004, the BJP and its allies had won about 12 per cent of the votes. The BJP’s own vote share was about 10.4 per cent. (The Indian Federal Democratic Party of P.C. Thomas, supported by it, won a seat.) Party sources admit that the party might not be able to improve upon this now. However, it expects to corner a high percentage of votes in Kasaragod and Kozhikode districts.

In Thiruvananthapuram, there is no hope of achieving the near 30 per cent level reached in 2004 by its candidate, O. Rajagopal. The RSS cadres had campaigned actively for its candidates, including party State unit president, P.K. Krishnadas. However, they could not canvass many votes from non-traditional supporters of the party. In Kasaragod, the party had undertaken a systematic campaign. However, its impact was limited because of the committed nature of most of the voters there.

The party had always failed to drive a wedge in the bipolar polity of the State. The former State president of the party P.S. Sreedharan Pillai notes that the UDF had been able to set the agenda for this election in Kerala. The UDF had been able to focus attention on the SNC Lavalin case. CPI(M) State secretary Pinarai Vijayan tried to divert attention from the case by projecting the party’s link with the PDP. However, the UDF was able to turn that too to its advantage despite its own links with the Popular Front of India.

The polling patterns give no indication of a majority consolidation.

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