For a historic first in Kerala, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat. BJP’s Suresh Gopi is headed for victory in the Thrissur seat, as he is leading by over 75079 votes over the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CP(M). According to the Election Commission of India, Suresh Gopi is in first place with over 3.96 lakh votes in the Thrissur seat, while CPM’s Sunil Kumar is in second place with 3.23 lakh votes. In third place is Congress candidate Muraleedharan with 409239 lakh votes. This development is shocking, as the BJP has never won a single seat in the history of Kerala.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Suresh Gopi being chosen by the BJP was a surprise, given his background as a former leader of the CPI(M)-affiliated Students Federation of India (SFI). According to various reports, he has previously campaigned for parties, describing himself as an “apolitical” person. He was also the BJP candidate for the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 and from the assembly seat of the same name in the 2021 Kerala election. Apart from this, the BJP and its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are also constantly trying to woo certain communities among Hindus in Kerala.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got 15% of the votes in Kerala when the Congress-led UDF swept the election by winning 19 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats. This time, the Congress and the IUML are set to win 13 and two seats each, while the BJP and the CPI(M) are headed to win 2 and 1 seat respectively. Senior BJP leader and the party’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar met Suresh Gopi at his residence. Speaking to reporters here later, Javadekar said the party workers were “very happy”. He expressed confidence that both Gopi and Chandrasekhar will win when the final results are announced.
