Can Ganesh Kumar's allegation of UDF-BJP deal in Pathanapuram bear scrutiny?

Former minister K B Ganesh Kumar who lost to Congress's Jyothikumar Chamakkala in the 2026 Assembly polls has alleged a 'UDF-BJP deal' in Pathanapuram. 

The drop in the NDA candidate Anil Kumar's vote seems to have triggered his suspicion. “In 2016, the BJP candidate Bheeman Raghu had secured 11,700 votes. In 2021, the BJP candidate won 12,398 votes. In the 2025 local body polls, the BJP alone had cornered 23,000-plus votes in this Assembly constituency. But this time, when it had won three Assembly seats in Kerala, the number of votes the party could secure was just 7031,” Ganesh Kumar said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

Further, he said that this time the seat was given to Twenty20, “a party that did not have any presence in Pathanapuram”. “In many panchayat wards where the BJP had won (in 2025), the NDA votes were stuck in double-digit figures. The UDF-BJP deal began with the granting of the seat to T20,” Ganesh Kumar said.

Fact is, Ganesh Kumar's loss margin of 8310 is greater than the fall in NDA's votes relative to 2021, 5367 (12,398 minus 7031).    

Also, the BJP had not made any dramatic improvement in its vote share in the constituency in the 2025 local body polls. Forget panchayats, the BJP could win only a handful of wards. If it had won 13 wards in 2020, it won 16 this time. A marginal presence still. 

A comparison with 2021 performance should also factor in the UDF's resurrection during the 2025 local body polls. The UDF had wrecked the LDF dominance in the Pathanapuram Assembly in the 2025 local bodies. 

In 2020, the LDF ruled six of the eight panchayats that make up the Assembly constituency. In 2025, its supremacy shrunk to just two panchayats - Vettikkavala and Vilakkudy. In Vettikavala, though it emerged as the largest coalition, the LDF could not secure a majority on its own. 

In short, it would be too lazy to attribute Chamakkala's victory to a “UDF-BJP deal”.

On top of this, the T20's poor performance was not typical of Pathanapuram. Save for a few seats in Ernakulam district, the party functioned as the flat tyre that derailed the BJP-led NDA's momentum. Even in its birth district, T20 lost votes in Kunnathunad (-1669), Kochi (-7822), Muvattupuzha (-3695) and Vypeen (-3070).

Not just in Pathanapuram, the T20 has fared poorly wherever it had taken over from the BJP and the BDJS outside Eranakulam district. In Ranni, it lost 1594 votes. In Kodungallur, it lost 4271 votes. In Chalakkudy, 1271 votes. In Trikkaripur, 3124. Thiruvambady, 404. Ettumanoor, 771. Punalur, 4676.

Nonetheless, the biggest loss of votes was in Pathanapuram: 5367.