Will examine vote share drop in Kerala local body polls: BJP

Kannur: BJP state general secretary M T Ramesh on Monday said the party will examine the drop in the BJP's vote share in the recently held local body elections when compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2020 local body polls. Ramesh was speaking to reporters after the BJP state leadership meeting in Kannur. He said the BJP-led NDA has registered a significant progress in the local body polls by securing a comfortable majority to come to power in many local bodies in the state, including Thiruvananthapuram corporation. "CPM and Congress had joined hands to defeat BJP in many local bodies across the state. But BJP managed to overcome this challenge and increased seats. They helped each in around 3,000 wards to defeat BJP. In Kasaragod, CPM had not fielded candidates in many wards to support Congress. In some other wards, UDF had withdrawn candidates to ensure CPM's victory. We can prove with evidence that CPM and Congress stood together against BJP in Pandalam municipality," he alleged. Ramesh said BJP improved its performance when compared to local body elections in 2020 by securing more seats and by capturing power in more civic bodies. "This time, NDA managed to secure majority in 41 panchayats. In Palakkad and Tripunithura municipalities, BJP is the single largest party. Hence, NDA has the right to rule the civic bodies. Other parties should be ready to accept the people's mandate," he said. Ramesh added that the UDF received the benefit of anti-incumbency in the local body polls. "However, BJP improved its performance despite the wave in favour of the UDF," he said. Ramesh further claimed that BJP had fielded a Muslim woman candidate in the party's ‘sure seat' in Thrissur corporation and she won the seat with a big margin. "It is the first time a Muslim woman became a councillor in Thrissur corporation. Neither the LDF nor the UDF never gave a winnable seat to a Muslim woman in Thrissur corporation. CPM and Congress are now trying to make alliances in many local bodies to oust BJP. It is anti-democratic move that the parties create alliances after the elections. If they want to make such an alliance, it should be declared before the polls," he said. Ramesh further said that the BJP state leadership will declare the mayor candidate for Thiruvananthapuram after consulting with the district leadership. BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, senior party leader Prakash Javadekar, national vice-president A P Abdulla Kutty, former state presidents C K Pathmanabhan, V Muraleedharan, K Surendran, Kummanam Rajasekharan and others also attended the meeting.