Kerala Assembly Polls: BJP's lone seat Nemom becomes focal point for Congress

The Congress is planning to field a high-profile candidate to lock horns with BJP in its lone sitting seat in Kerala

The Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram city, known to have become the first BJP constituency ever in the Kerala Assembly, has now emerged as the focal point of candidate selection for the coming Assembly elections.

The Congress is planning to field a high-profile candidate to lock horns with BJP in its lone seat in Kerala.

The grand old party is pulling out all stops at Nemon this time, as the constituency has been a disappointment for Congress in the last two Assembly elections. Votes secured by candidates of the Congress-led United Democratic Front at Nemom in 2011 and 2016 were very low and the party came in at the third position. This had triggered allegations that UDF had helped BJP secure the seat.

The CPM has already fielded former MLA of Nemom V Sivankutty as its candidate. He won with a majority of around 6,400 votes in 2011. BJP's O Rajagopal was a runner-up then, with 43, 661 votes. UDF candidate in the election Charupara Ravi of Socialist Janata (Democratic) got close to 20,000 votes.

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In 2016, BJP's O Rajagopal won the seat with around 67,800 votes, while CPM's Sivankutty came second with around 59,000 votes. UDF candidate V Surendran Pillai of Janata Dal (United) got just 13,800 votes.

This time the Congress national leadership is committed to defeating the BJP at Nemom, hence a strong candidate is expected to be fielded. The BJP is yet to finalise its candidate for Nemom.

CPM former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that BJP's defeat in the seat was sure if the Congress fields a strong candidate. He also said that last time O Rajagopal managed to get sympathy votes due to his age and a string of unsuccessful elections.

However, BJP sources pointed out that the saffron party was quite confident in the seat as there was a considerable Hindu population in the region. BJP candidates won in several wards in Nemom during the local body elections.

BJP former state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, who was also former Mizoram governor, and actor-turned Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi are under consideration for the seat.