Notwithstanding the major setback suffered by the BJP in the north, the Hindutva outfit succeeded in opening its account in Kerala for the first time in the history of the party as well as that of the State.
Suresh Gopi, film actor turned politician fielded by the BJP won Thrissur Lok Sabha seat with a comfortable margin. He defeated his nearest rival Sunil Kumar (CPI) by a margin of 75,000 votes. Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, the sitting MP from Wayanad retained his constituency by a margin of 3,64,422 votes.
Gopi's victory is a landmark event in Kerala politics, according to many political observers.
Interestingly, K Muraleedharan (Congress), the sitting MP from Vadakara who was shifted to Thrissur to neutralise the impact caused by the crossing over of Padmaja Venugopal, his sister and daughter of former Chief Minister K Karunakaran to the BJP, finished third behind the CPI candidate.
The ruling CPI(M) in the State had to contend with just one seat leaving the remaining 18 seats to the Congress-led UDF. The Congress won 15 seats and the Muslim League walked away with two seats. The Joseph faction of the Kerala Congress, another constituent of the UDF, won the lone seat it contested which completed the tally.
The highlight of this election is the severe defeat suffered by the CPI(M) in the hustings. Except for K Radhakrishnan of the party, who is also the Kerala Minister for Temple Administration, won from Aalathur, defeating Ramya Haridas, the sitting Congress MP. Many party heavyweights fell by the wayside and this included M V Jayarajan, Elamaram Kareem and K K Shylaja.
The victory of Gopi is a new beginning in Kerala's political landscape, according to P Sujathan, author and political commentator. "Though the BJP's victory is limited to Thrissur, candidates like Rajeev Chandrasekhar, V Muraleedharan and Sobha Surendran have done quite well by polling more votes than that of the 2019 election. The 2026 Assembly election in Kerala will see a triangular race compared to the present two-horse race," said Sujathan.
The CPI(M) State secretary M V Govindan said the party leadership would analyse the results threadbare and take action to rectify the mistakes if any that has cropped in.