The election here is widely perceived as a fight between entrenched CPI-M MLA V Sivankutty, who is also the education minister, and BJP challenger Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is also the state party president. Congress nominee KS Sabarinadhan, a municipal corporator who lost his neighbouring assembly seat in the 2021 election, seems to be struggling at this stage to catch up here.
In 2021, Sivankutty, who had lost in 2016 to BJP’s O Rajagopal by over 8,000 votes, wrested the seat from BJP by less than 4,000 votes. The fact that the then senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan notched above 36,000 votes (compared to a mere 13,000-odd votes his UDF predecessor had polled in 2016) at third place by retrieving some party votes from BJP seems to have tilted the balance then. Not many here are sure whether the present Congress candidate can be that tactical buffer now against seepage of the party base to BJP turf again. The fact that BJP led in the Nemom assembly segment in the 2024 LS poll when Shashi Tharoor scraped through against Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary seat and given BJP recently bagged the lion’s share of municipal wards in the assembly segment adds to BJP’s fight here and caution to Left and Congress.
“While BJP did well during corporate elections here, this time, it is going to be different because Sivankutty, besides being an active leader here for decades, has done a lot as education minister, allocating a lot of funds and projects for the development of Nemom. The LDF campaign is going strong but it is also for Congress not to yield its space to BJP,” said Anil Kumar, a local CPI-M campaigner.
While BJP, backed by the local RSS network, has mounted an all visible and resourceful campaign by projecting Chandrasekhar as a development-oriented leader with a vision to usher in progress, the Left is banking on its organisational reach while hoping that the over 20% Muslim voters here would tactically rally behind Sivankutty given it has acquired a direct Left-BJP duel. “There is a feeling among the people here for a change, for giving an opportunity for a new model of politics and development that BJP is offering,” said Sreedharan Nair, an engineer retired from government service.
In the remaining days to voting, BJP is planning a massive blitzkrieg here just as LDF is working on a reinforcement of its seat as the battle for Nemom is being closely watched by the whole state and beyond. The Congress camp’s performance is being watched out more to see whether the party would hold on to the party base or dip further.
