Just three votes for BJP candidate in Kerala local body bypoll

BJP Kottayam district president Noble Mathew told DH that the party was seeing the result positively as it was a region where it did not have even a booth level committee

BJP's efforts to make inroads into the Christian vote banks of Kerala seems to be a tough task as the party candidate got just three votes in the local body byelections for a ward in Kottayam district in Kerala held on Wednesday.

The national ruling party however has reasons to cheer as the party had got only two votes in the 2020 local body election at Elamgulam ward in Elikkulam grama panchayat in Kottayam district.

While Kottayam district is generally a stronghold of the Christian community, Elikullam grama panchayat comes under Pala Assembly constituency which is dominated by orthodox Christians.

The BJP has been making serious attempts to make inroads into the Christian votes banks of Kerala with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders of the party holding talks various church heads.

As per 2011 census, Kerala has 18.38 per cent Christian population, whereas in Kottayam district 43.48 per cent of the district's population is Christians - just behind 49.81 per cent Hindus.

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The bypoll at Elamgulam ward was conducted as Congress rebel candidate Jojo Cheeramkuzhi who won in the 2020 elections died. This time Congress's James Chacko retained the party's stronghold by securing 512 votes.

Thomas Varkey of Kerala Congress (M) contested as a Left front candidate and finished second with 353 votes. BJP's Jayaprakash V came third with three votes along with two other namesake or independent candidates. Jayaprakash was not a voter of the ward.

BJP Kottayam district president Noble Mathew told DH that the party was seeing the result positively as it was a region where the party did not have even a booth-level committee. But the party was expecting at least 25 votes as there were around 140 Hindu voters and 40 per cent families in the ward had received benefits of central government schemes like Rs.6,000 under PM's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.

In the recent Assembly poll, the BJP secured six votes in the ward. There are many wards in Kerala where the BJP-NDA used to perform even badly, he said.

Mathew said that he could identify the three persons who voted for BJP and would try to form a local level committee with them. "BJP is hopeful of overcoming the communal campaigns being unleased by the opponent political parties. In 2015 local body election the party had just 87 members in the entire Kottayam district. But in 2020 BJP-NDA candidates won in 118 wards and got power in two local bodies," he said.

Meanwhile, in the bypolls to 15 local body seats across the state, left-front candidates won in seven, Congress and its allies in six and independent candidates in two.