Analysis | From Lok Sabha high to Corporation low, BJP stumbles in Thrissur as UDF sweeps to power

The BJP's attempt to replicate the momentum gained by actor-politician Suresh Gopi's high-profile victory in the 2024 general elections in the Thrissur Municipal Corporation failed to translate into another big win.

While the BJP claimed the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation with 50 seats, adding 15 seats to its tally in 2020, the saffron party could secure only a two-seat upgrade in Thrissur.

The BJP settled for eight seats in Thrissur, while the UDF swept to power with 33 seats, ending a decade-long LDF rule, which was reduced to 11 seats.

Onmanorama reached out to MP Suresh Gopi for a comment, but he has yet to return the call, while state vice-president Advocate B Gopalakrishnan was rather blunt in his response: "People did not vote for BJP... there is nothing else to say."

Gopalakrishnan had courted trouble recently by claiming his party wouldn't hesitate to add names to electoral rolls, "even from Jammu and Kashmir" by making them stay in a constituency for a year.

Thrissur City district BJP president Justin Jacob acknowledged that the results fell short of expectations. “We have two more seats compared to last time, but we were expecting at least 12," said Jacob. "There are also allegations of cross-voting in certain areas, which need to be looked into,” he said.

Padmaja Venugopal, who switched allegiance to the BJP ahead of the last general elections, had an interesting take. "It was public anger toward the LDF that reflected in the result," Padmaja said. "Thammil Bhedam Thomman," (roughly translates to 'better than the other'), she added.

The BJP struggled to secure comfortable margins even in divisions where it won last time. In the Kottappuram division, UDF's Girish Kumar and BJP's Vinod Krishnan polled 745 votes each, with the latter winning the seat by the toss of a coin.

Meanwhile, the UDF’s victory in the Corporation follows a near-miss in 2020, when it tied with the LDF on 24 seats. Independent candidate M K Varghese, backed by the LDF, was elected the mayor then.

District Congress Committee (DCC) president Joseph Tajet said the UDF victory was expected. “There are two major reasons for the win. First, we took party workers at the grassroots into confidence and assured them there would be no micromanagement. Candidate recommendations came from them, making it a collective leadership model. Each candidate was someone the people favoured, and they voted accordingly,” he said.

Tajet added that public discontent with the LDF government over the past decade also contributed to the result. “The CPM works only for its party and workers. People realised this, and that reflected in the result,” he said. Lali Jose is reportedly considered for the mayor's post, which is reserved for women, while Tajet said the decision will be made by the parliamentary committee.

Meanwhile, there is ambiguity within LDF over the painful loss. CPM district secretary Abdul Khader told Onmanorama that the party accepts the verdict but would study the reasons for the defeat in detail before commenting further. Sources said the defeats of Lisie Joy, a potential mayoral candidate from the Laloor division, and former mayor Ajitha Jayarajan dealt a major blow to the party.

Joy, who resides in Aranattukara, was fielded from Laloor as part of a strategic move but secured only 956 votes, while Congress's Lali James won comfortably with 2,483 votes. Deputy Mayor M L Rosy, an independent backed by the LDF, won again from the Kalathode division. She attributed the LDF's defeat in the Corporation to tax hikes, problems linked to the K-Smart initiative, and concerns over the recent special intensive revision of electoral rolls. “People may have wanted a change after facing all these issues,” she said.