BJP invaded Congress votes in Nemom

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM’s V S Sivankutty, making way for history, might have lost by a relatively large margin (8671) to BJP’s O Rajagopal. But, interestingly, the percentage of votes Sivankutty had secured had not suffered much of a dip. From 42.9 percent in 2011, it dropped, but almost imprceptibly, to 41.4.

However, the votes secured by UDF candidate, V Surendran Pillai, have shown a strange drop. He even forfeited his deposit, the only UDF candidate to suffer such an ignominy. In numbers, it fell from 20248 in 2011 (when Janata Dal’s Charupara Ravi was candidate) to 13860, a difference of 6388 votes.

The mystery will deepen if the fall is understood in percentage: if Charupara Ravi had secured 17.38 percent of the votes, Mr Pillai could not even manage 10 percent. Like in 2011, this year too it was a close contest between O Rajagopal and V Sivankutty in most wards. And like last time, UDF did not pose much of a contest.

However, what makes 2016 different is that wherever Rajagopal has wrested initiative from Sivankutty – in Ambalathara, Pachalloor, Thirumala, Konchiravila, Kamaleshwaram and Kalady - it is seen that the UDF has lost badly and the LDF candidate has protected or bettered his 2011 tally.

Take Ambalathara for instance where O Rajagopal fared miserably in 2011. Even UDF looked considerably better than BJP. This time but saw a BJP dominance. In ward 83 for instance, where BJP could secure only 36 votes in 2011, the party scored 212. UDF votes fell below 100 where it had last time garnered 219. Sivankutty though increased his tally.

Take two wards in Pachlloor, for a clearer working of the phenomenon. Wards where BJP had only 195 and 173 as against LDF's 259 and 356 in 2011, this time gave BJP 348 and 447. Here, UDF votes have come down drastically to 59 and 79 from 159 and 158. But Sivankutty has increased its tally to 300 and 421.