Malappuram bypoll: Beef proves costly for BJP

MALAPPURAM: The  Malappuram by-election result  has come as a huge blow to the BJP  which was on a steady growth during the last few elections in the region.  The party has lost 7,772 votes from its kitty in this election  compared to its gain in the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2016 and 2014 respectively. BJP candidate N. Sreeprakash came third with 65,675 votes in the bypoll registering an increase of  just 970 votes  compared to the Lok Sabha poll in 2014.  The party had made big strides in the Assembly elections in 2016 winning  73,447 votes from all the seven Assembly segments of the Malappuram LS constituency. Its vote share of 7.58 percent (65,705) in 2014 has come down to 7.01  in 2017.

The BJP camp was confident of doubling  its tally to touch one lakh mark. Party state president Kummanam Rajashekharan who camped in the constituency along with other state leaders had claimed this several times during the electioneering. But the result has proved it wrong. It seems the beef politics too played  spoilsport for the party. The row over the promise of quality beef in Malappuram by the party candidate Sreeprakash and subsequent confusing responses and threats from the party leaders had a negative impact on the poll outcome.

The party  also failed to woo the new voters though there was an increase of 1,14,975 of them.  In Vallikunnu Assembly segment which is the BJP stronghold in Malappuram, the party couldn’t maintain its highest vote share of  22,887  recorded in  the 2016 Assembly election. It has come down to 17,190 in the bypoll.  Reclaiming the lost ground will be a Herculean task for the party in view of the  adverse  sentiment against the BJP-led union government in the run-up to the 2019 general elections.