Chathannur, Kazhakoottam and Nemom; Common enemy in all three constituencies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lotus first bloomed in 2016 and withered in 2021. Kerala always stood as a bulwark that restricted entry to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Coming to 2026, a rejuvenated BJP won not one but three seats, breaking the same bulwark down. BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar won by 4978 votes. In Chathannur, B.B. Gopakumar had an advantage of more than 4300 votes. In a close fight, V. Muraleedharan defeated LDF heavyweight Kadakampally Surendran by a narrow margin of 428 votes.

Analysts had predicted that if BJP were to show might in Kerala, Congress had to go feeble. But when the results of the assembly elections came out, the three constituencies that BJP won in Kerala had something special. All three were seats of LDF. Last time, CPM candidate V Sivankutty won Nemom by only about 3,000 votes. With vote consolidation and the minister’s good track record, the party expected another victory in the saffron stronghold, but alas.

In 2021, in Chathannur, CPI's G.S. Jayalal had a comfortable majority of 17,206 votes. In 2016, the majority was more than 37,000 votes. Gopakumar was in second place in both these elections. The fact that Jayalal, who was so popular among the masses, was denied a seat also helped Gopakumar. Gopakumar, a former teacher and a very influential leader with ties in SNDP, was almost certain of a win this time.

Despite losing twice, Gopakumar concentrated his work on the constituency, and it paid dividends. The same tactics laid the foundation for V Muraleedharan's victory. Muraleedharan, even during his tenure as the union minister, had given special care to the constituency, which proved effective.