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BJP Re-enters Kerala Assembly with Three Seats Amid Congress-Led Sweep

By Editor

Posted on May 5, 2026

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BJP Re-enters Kerala Assembly with Three Seats Amid Congress-Led Sweep

Kasaragod : A decade after its initial breakthrough, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a fresh entry into the Kerala State Legislature by winning three seats in the 2026 assembly elections. This comeback occurred during a broader political shift where the Congress-led opposition achieved a sweeping victory, ending ten years of Left Democratic Front (LDF) rule. The BJP successfully captured the constituencies of Nemom and Kazhakoottam in Thiruvananthapuram, along with Chathannoor in Kollam. Despite increasing its seat count from zero to three, the party’s overall vote share saw only a marginal increase, moving from 11.3% in 2021 to 11.4% in 2026.

In the high-profile Nemom constituency, prominent BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar emerged victorious, defeating CPI(M) Minister V. Sivankutty. Chandrasekhar, who had previously lost a Lok Sabha bid from the state capital, managed to reclaim a seat that the BJP first won in 2016 but lost in 2021. Following his win, Chandrasekhar attributed the victory to a strong anti-CPI(M) sentiment and promised to serve the people of Nemom dedicatedly. Meanwhile, in Kazhakoottam, former Union Minister V. Muraleedharan won a narrow, nail-biting contest against LDF’s Kadakampally Surendran by a mere 428 votes, amidst intense debates surrounding the Sabarimala gold theft allegations.

The election also produced a surprise result in Chathannoor, a CPI stronghold for the past 15 years. BJP leader B.B. Gopakumar, who had finished as the runner-up in the previous two elections, finally secured the seat with a margin of 4,398 votes against CPI’s R. Rajendran. This victory marked a significant expansion for the party beyond its traditional Thiruvananthapuram base.

Despite these gains, several high-profile BJP candidates faced setbacks across the state. Veteran leader Sobha Surendran lost to Congress candidate Ramesh Pisharody in Palakkad, while former state president K. Surendran suffered a heavy defeat in Manjeshwaram against UDF’s AKM Ashraf. Other notable defeats included Union Minister George Kurian, former DGP R. Sreelekha, and Padmaja Venugopal in Thrissur, highlighting the mixed results for the saffron party in the southern state.