After winning the North and heartland, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set sights on South India with Kerala first in focus. In the run-up to Lok Sabha polls Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lined up three trips to the state.
What brings Kerala to the forefront of the BJP blueprint for South? The party has prioritised atleast four Lok Sabha seats in the state, where it had performed better in the past elections with a rise in vote share, though it could never win a parliamentary seat in Kerala.
Interview: BJP prospects strong in Kerala; confident of Lok Sabha debut, says Cong turncoat Anil Antony
The party has made a detailed plan for leaders, including union ministers, with rallies, meetings across the state with the central schemes in focus.
Meanwhile, Kerala is also one of the states where Congress still has a massive presence. The state sends 20 parliamentarians and during the 2019 general elections, the grand old party had registered victory on 15 seats with a vote-share of 37.5 percent, while BJP couldn’t win a seat but received a vote-share of 13 percent in the state. CPI(M) had fielded its candidate from 14 seats, but managed to win one seat and party’s over all voter-share was 26 percent.
| PARTIES | SEATS | VOTE % |
| Congress | 15 | 37.3 |
| IUML | 2 | 5.5 |
| CPI(M) | 1 | 25.8 |
| BJP | 0 | 13 |
| OTHERS | 2 | 12.2 |
The Congress’ prospects are also seen strong for the upcoming polls as party leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to contest from the Wayanad constituency of the state again, which he currently represents in the lower house.
Read more: Why Congress still wants Rahul to contest from Wayanad?
He had also drawn massive crowds during the first phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state. Recently, Congress-led United Democratic Fund (UDF) announced the seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Under this, the Congress will on contest 16 seats, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will contest on two seats, Kerala Congress and Revolutionary Socialist Party will contest on one seat each.
The party will once again look at achieving a majority in the state with the support of the newly formed INDIA bloc. As for the BJP led-NDA government, it is hoping to end the electoral drought in the southern state.
The Bhartiya Janata Party has already announced its twelve candidates including veteran Congress leader AK Antony’s son Anil Antony, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The party will contest 16 seats in the state, while the four remaining seats will go to other to other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents.
Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Thrissur, and Thiruvananthapuram are among the key constituencies in the state.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had won eight seats with a 31.5 percent vote-share. CPM had won 5 seats and received a vote-share of 21.8 percent, while IUML had won two seats with a vote-share of 4.6 percent.
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