Thiruvananthapuram: BJP made a historic stride by winning three seats and the party was quick to say it was symbolic as it had won the same number of seats in West Bengal in 2016. The victory could be seen as a stamp of approval to state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s strategy to focus more on development and less on politics.When the former Union minister took over the reins of the party in Kerala, Chandrasekhar was clear that he would stay away from saffron politics that wins BJP votes elsewhere in the country. It seems to have paid off, as it helped the party increase its connect with urban voters in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam that were grossly neglected by successive govts.Chandrasekhar won the Nemom seat by defeating incumbent V Sivankuttywho had wrested the seat from BJP in the 2021 election.All the three constituencies — Nemom and Kazhakuttom in Thiruvananthapuram district and Chathannur in Kollam — are urban constituencies.The victory in the three constituencies where BJP had finished second in several previous elections proved that groundwork, not rabble-rousing campaigns can win them seats. If the election campaign of several BJP candidates were replete with saffron colour and Sangh Parivar symbols in the 2021 polls, they hardly resorted to such shows and it was almost absent in Nemom, Kazhakuttom and Chathannur.This poll also brightened the hopes of BJP in Kozhikode north and south seats, where the party candidates scored close to 40,000 votes for the first time. BJP had won 13 seats in Kozhikode corporation for the first time.
