The biggest political gamble in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation elections has been taken by the BJP, and can be witnessed at the Fort ward that teems with Brahmin streets. The BJP has dared to feature Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture in its candidate posters. Even at the height of Modi's popularity in 2015 and 2020, the PM was kept out of the posters of BJP-backed candidates in Fort ward.

But the far more astonishing move is this: The party has put up a candidate in Fort ward, Harikumar S, with 'lotus' as his symbol. Never before has this been done in Fort, not when R Suresh won in 2015 or when Janaki Ammal secured a landslide in 2020. They were BJP members but still called themselves 'independents' and used 'bell' (Suresh) and 'tree' (Janaki Ammal) as symbols.

The Congress and the CPM, too, preferred to remodel even card-carrying members of their parties as 'independents', and refrained from using traditional party symbols. In 2010, when Congress's Udayalekshmy S won, it was as an 'independent'.

In 2015, perhaps misled by the thought that Fort was its bastion, the Congress became adventurous. It chose S Krishnan Potty, a hugely popular local leader who had won in 2000 and repeated the win again as DIC(K)- Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) - independent in 2005, was presented as the Congress candidate and given the 'hand' symbol. He came a distant third. The BJP-backed 'independent' Suresh, with 'bell' as his symbol, was the winner.

Potty's stunning loss once again reinforced the unwritten rule that political parties should take a backseat in Fort. So in 2020, the candidates of all the three fronts - UDF, LDF and NDA - were 'independents'.

The BJP was rewarded with a massive victory. Its 'independent' Janaki Ammal trounced her nearest Congress-backed 'independent' Udayalekshmy by 1070 votes, the BJP's highest victory margin in the 2020 Thiruvananthapuram Corporation polls. This time, the CPM and Congress have stuck to the time-honoured tradition of fielding 'independents'. The LDF 'independent' is V R Narayanan, a young local-level CPM leader, and V Muthukrishnan, another local Congress bigwig, is the UDF 'independent'.

However, like the Congress in 2015, the BJP has decided to be adventurous this time. Whether it will pay off will depend on how the Brahmana Sabha would respond. Brahmins, mostly Tambrahm Iyers and Tulu Brahmins, constitute over 70 per cent of the voters in Fort. "We have a problem with being seen as supporting a party. We can vote for individuals. So we have always told parties to avoid their traditional symbols while contesting in Fort," a senior member of the Brahmana Sabha said. In 2020, the Sabha had openly supported Janaki Ammal after the BJP kept the 'lotus' hidden and secured a 'tree' for Janaki Ammal. This time the Sabha has not openly expressed its choice.

The Brahmana Sabha leader admitted that, like most members in his community, he was a BJP supporter. "But I don't know how my community is going to react to this decision of the BJP to use its own symbol. Don't be surprised if there is an unexpected winner," he said. The other two 'independents' are also Brahmins.

The Congress independent V Muthukrishnan even holds a senior position in the Brahmana Sabha. Narayanan is a Tulu Brahmin who is highly valued in the community for what Janaki Moorthy, an elderly resident in one of the Brahmin streets in the ward, termed as his "selflessness". "If we have a problem with the streetlight or the drain, it is to Narayanan we turn to and not the councillor (Janaki Ammal). It is he who does the running around for us," Moorthy said.

There is an additional worry for the BJP. After the 2024 delimitation, certain portions of the Manacaud ward where the CPM is strong has also been added to Fort. Local BJP leaders Onmanorama talked to said the party had the approval of the Sabha to use the 'lotus' symbol. "We are celebrating the centenary year of the RSS and the party decided that we should contest in the 'lotus' symbol this time and that too in a ward in which falls the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. The Brahmana Sabha has no problems with this. They have pledged us support," said Santhosh, who is in charge of the campaign in Fort.
We said that Sabha leaders had told Onmanorama that they have not officially made a declaration of support to anyone. "Whom did you talk to," we were asked. The names were given. There was silence.