<p>Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP's strategy of poaching a local leader from rival camp and fielding him as candidate by eyeing the Christian votes as well as the unrest among the high-range farmers over man-animal conflicts failed to make any impact at Nilambur by-poll.</p><p>Congress won the Nilambur seat after a gap of nine years with Aryadan Shoukath defeating CPI(M)’s M Swaraj by a margin of 11,077 vote</p><p>BJP candidate Mohan George, who finished fourth, polled 8,648 votes, just 148 votes more than the votes secured by the party candidate in 2021. The vote share is also 4.91 percent this time almost the same as the 4.96 percent in the 2021 Assembly election.</p>.Kerala: Congress wrests Nilambur from CPI(M) after nine years in assembly bypoll.<p>The saffron party is among those who will lose the deposit amount for having failed to secure one-sixth of the valid votes polled in Nilambur.</p><p>In the 2016 Assembly elections, BJP coalition partner BDJS could secure 7.5 per cent votes at Nilambur. </p><p>In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls BJP polled around 15 per cent votes in Nilambur assembly segment, which is part of Wayanad Lok Sabha seat represented by AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.</p>.Assembly bypolls 2025: BJP, AAP, TMC retain sitting seats, Congress claims Nilambur.<p>Being the first election after Rajeev Chandrasekhar took over as the BJP state president, it was a keenly watched election too.</p><p>Nilambur has 45 per cent each Muslim and Hindu representation and around ten per cent Christians, who are mostly farmers in the high-ranges.</p><p>Even as the BJP state leadership initially preferred to keep off from the polls citing that it was an irrelevant election with less than a year left for the general elections, the party came under pressure against keeping off from the first election in the state after Chandrasekhar took over the state president.</p><p>Subsequently the BJP came out with the surprise move of poaching George, who was a local leader of Kerala Congress (Joseph) party, which is a coalition partner of the Congress-led United Democratic Front. The aim was to get support of the Christian vote banks especially in view of the unrest over man-animal conflict.</p><p>Chandrasekhar himself was leading the campaign and the two union ministers from Kerala, Suresh Gopi and George Kurian, were among those campaigning by highlighting Narendra Modi's development agenda.</p><p>Even then the saffron failed in making any gains compared to previous elections, but only suffered losses compared to the 2016 Assembly polls and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.</p>.Nilambur bypoll result to become a trend-setter for Kerala.<p>BJP state general secretary M T Ramesh said that since it was an Assembly by-poll the anti-incumbency votes against the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) went to UDF as it was the key opposition party in Kerala now. </p><p>Even then the BJP could retain the votes it secured in 2021, he said. <br></p>
<p>Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP's strategy of poaching a local leader from rival camp and fielding him as candidate by eyeing the Christian votes as well as the unrest among the high-range farmers over man-animal conflicts failed to make any impact at Nilambur by-poll.</p><p>Congress won the Nilambur seat after a gap of nine years with Aryadan Shoukath defeating CPI(M)’s M Swaraj by a margin of 11,077 vote</p><p>BJP candidate Mohan George, who finished fourth, polled 8,648 votes, just 148 votes more than the votes secured by the party candidate in 2021. The vote share is also 4.91 percent this time almost the same as the 4.96 percent in the 2021 Assembly election.</p>.Kerala: Congress wrests Nilambur from CPI(M) after nine years in assembly bypoll.<p>The saffron party is among those who will lose the deposit amount for having failed to secure one-sixth of the valid votes polled in Nilambur.</p><p>In the 2016 Assembly elections, BJP coalition partner BDJS could secure 7.5 per cent votes at Nilambur. </p><p>In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls BJP polled around 15 per cent votes in Nilambur assembly segment, which is part of Wayanad Lok Sabha seat represented by AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.</p>.Assembly bypolls 2025: BJP, AAP, TMC retain sitting seats, Congress claims Nilambur.<p>Being the first election after Rajeev Chandrasekhar took over as the BJP state president, it was a keenly watched election too.</p><p>Nilambur has 45 per cent each Muslim and Hindu representation and around ten per cent Christians, who are mostly farmers in the high-ranges.</p><p>Even as the BJP state leadership initially preferred to keep off from the polls citing that it was an irrelevant election with less than a year left for the general elections, the party came under pressure against keeping off from the first election in the state after Chandrasekhar took over the state president.</p><p>Subsequently the BJP came out with the surprise move of poaching George, who was a local leader of Kerala Congress (Joseph) party, which is a coalition partner of the Congress-led United Democratic Front. The aim was to get support of the Christian vote banks especially in view of the unrest over man-animal conflict.</p><p>Chandrasekhar himself was leading the campaign and the two union ministers from Kerala, Suresh Gopi and George Kurian, were among those campaigning by highlighting Narendra Modi's development agenda.</p><p>Even then the saffron failed in making any gains compared to previous elections, but only suffered losses compared to the 2016 Assembly polls and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.</p>.Nilambur bypoll result to become a trend-setter for Kerala.<p>BJP state general secretary M T Ramesh said that since it was an Assembly by-poll the anti-incumbency votes against the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) went to UDF as it was the key opposition party in Kerala now. </p><p>Even then the BJP could retain the votes it secured in 2021, he said. <br></p>