&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "BJP wins three assembly seats in Keralam, registers its best-ever performance")
The BJP won three seats—Nemom, Kazhakkoottam and Chathannoor—in the 2026 Keralam Assembly elections, but finished a distant joint sixth while the Congress-led UDF swept to power in the state. Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar secured victory in Nemom, a constituency in Thiruvananthapuram. He defeated CPI(M) veteran and minister V Sivankutty by 3,590 votes, while Congress’s young leader KS Sabarinathan finished third.
Another former Union Minister, V Muraleedharan, emerged victorious in Kazhakkoottam, marking a significant gain for the BJP in the Thiruvananthapuram region. In a closely fought triangular contest, Muraleedharan defeated senior CPI(M) leader Kadakampally Surendran by a narrow margin. Sarathchandra Prasad of the Congress finished third in the constituency.
Meanwhile, in Chathannoor, BJP candidate BB Gopakumar clinched the seat in a tightly contested race. He defeated CPI’s R Rajendran by over 4,300 votes. Congress candidate Sooraj Ravi finished third here also.
The victories are particularly significant for the BJP, as it the first time when the party has won more than one seat in Keralam. BJP’s previous best was a single seat won by O Rajagopal in 2016.
Meanwhile, the party suffered a setback in Palakkad, where its candidate Shobha Surendran lost to Congress leader Ramesh Pisharody. In Manjeshwaram, former state unit president K Surendran was defeated by the Muslim League candidate.
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In Thrissur, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Union Minister Suresh Gopi, BJP candidate Padmaja Venugopal failed to make a breakthrough. Union Minister George Kurian also had a disappointing outing, finishing third in the Kanjirappally seat in Kottayam district.
Meanwhile, the Congress pulled off a landslide victory in Keralam, marking a return to power after a decade in the Opposition. Keralam has a total of 140 seats.
The BJP had carried out extensive outreach to the Christian community, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting heads of the church in late 2025.
In its poll manifesto, the party promised Christians “micro-minority status” and “equitable access to welfare schemes, scholarships, and community development benefits.”
Earlier in 2017, the BJP appointed Alphons Kannanthanam as the Union Minister of State (MoS) of Electronics and Information Technology and MoS (Independent Charge) of Tourism.
