Thiruvananthapuram, March 18 Riding high on its first victory in Kerala in the recently held local body elections, the BJP is gearing up for a fierce battle in Nemom, a constituency that includes parts of Thiruvananthapuram city and its outskirts, where the party secured its first and only MLA, O Rajagopal, in 2016.
With BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar having declared his candidacy for the Nemom constituency well before the election announcement, he aims for a resounding victory in the 2026 elections.
A comparison of voting patterns in Nemom over the 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections reveals shifting support bases among the three major fronts, with the BJP's vote share dipping even as the Left and Congress gained ground.
However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Chandrasekhar, representing the BJP, secured his highest vote share in Nemom among all Assembly segments in the Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency, polling over 45 per cent, according to data aggregated from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Senior CPI(M) leader and incumbent MLA V Sivankutty, widely known as "Sivankuttyannan" among the people of Nemom, dismisses the BJP's claims and states clearly that the party will not have a presence in the constituency.
He accuses the Congress of "opportunistic politics" in Nemom, where it has not yet announced a candidate.
The CPI(M) has long accused the Congress of cross-voting in 2016, which allegedly enabled BJP veteran Rajagopal to win the seat for the first time.
However, in the 2021 elections, Sivankutty fulfilled what Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had famously said at an election rally--that the LDF would secure victory for the BJP in that election.
Sivankutty won by over 4,000 votes against BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan, and he hopes to achieve a similar victory again, citing the development work carried out by the LDF government in both the state and the constituency.
However, Chandrasekhar is confident of his victory in the party's stronghold.
"The people of Nemom want a change. They are dissatisfied with the MLA's and the government's poor performance. I am open to discussing the development in the constituency over the last five years, but I don't think Sivankutty has presented a comprehensive analysis," Chandrasekhar told
In a social media post, Sivankutty challenged Chandrasekhar to an open debate comparing the constituency's development over the past five years with that during Rajagopal's tenure between 2016 and 2021.
Chandrasekhar, who has consistently emphasized the importance of all 140 constituencies for the NDA, believes that their campaign model—offering development projects from the Union Government, which they successfully implemented in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation—will also help them win the seat.
The BJP hopes to replicate its success in the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation in the local body polls held a few months ago.
Sivankutty quickly responded to Chandrasekhar's efforts to woo the majority Hindu voters in the constituency, stating that his fight is for secularism, not communal division.
"Rajeev Chandrasekhar has replaced democracy with money power," Sivankutty said, adding that he believes in the people of all religions in the constituency, citing his participation in breaking the fast with members of the Muslim community at a mosque in Manacaud.
Chandrasekhar began his campaign with a roadshow in Tirumala on Monday night, while Sivankutty launched his campaign on Sunday night, barely an hour after the election dates were announced.
In the 2021 elections, Sivankutty secured 38.24 per cent of the vote, compared to 41.39 per cent in 2016, when he lost to Rajagopal.
Kummanam Rajasekharan of the BJP, who finished second in 2021, secured a 35.54 per cent vote share, compared to the 47.46 per cent secured by Rajagopal in 2016.
K Muraleedharan of the Congress secured 25.01 per cent of the vote in 2021, compared to 9.70 per cent secured by V Surendra Pillai of UDF, who contested in Nemom for the UDF in 2016.
As the contest intensifies, national leaders will campaign for the BJP's star candidate Chandrasekhar, and leaders such as Pinarayi Vijayan will support Sivankutty.
