The Modi wave has brushed through Kerala too but was not strong enough to lift any of its candidates to the Lok Sabha.
The wave increased the party’s vote share; but performance is slightly weaker than in 2004 when it had contested the polls in alliance with IFDP’s P.C. Thomas (now in Kerala Congress).
However, compared to 2009, it has nearly doubled its votes - from just over 10 lakh to nearly 20 lakh. The vote share works out to be about 10 per cent against 6.3 in 2009 and 10.4 in 2004.
As prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi had taken some initiatives to rally the backward classes, especially the Ezhavas, Pulayas, and Dheevaras, behind him in Kerala. This apparently has yielded results.
Even in Mavelikara, an SC constituency, where Congress candidate Kodikunnil Suresh managed to woo back Pulayas, the party has been able to double its votes. (The BJP had offered to support a Pulayar Maha Sabha candidate in Mavelikara but the sabha developed cold feet. So, the BJP fielded its own man.)
The top performer for the BJP in the State is former Union Minister of State O. Rajagopal. He surpassed his earlier record, set in 2004, for any BJP candidate in the State. His score this time is 2.82 lakh votes against 2.28 lakh in 2004.
Apparently, a Hindu consolidation has occurred in his favour beyond caste lines. There are also many voters who voted for him in regard to his performance as Minister of State in the Vajpayee government.
Another notable performance is that of K. Surendran who increased his votes from 1.25 lakh in 2009 to 1.72 lakh in Kasaragod. However, his vote share is less than 18 per cent, confirming the ground situation that the BJP is a force only in some areas of the constituency. (Mr. Modi had campaigned in the constituency.)
Perhaps, more lustrous is the performance of A.N. Radhakrishnan in Ernakulam, who increased his votes from about 53,000 to about 99,000 (He was the BJP candidate in the constituency last time also like Mr. Surendran).
This is higher than AAP candidate Anita Pratap’s 51,517 votes. It may be recalled that Mr. Modi had addressed a meeting of the Pulayar Maha Sabha in Ernakulam, which had benefitted Mr. Radhakrishan’s campaign. BJP national council member Shobha Surendran, who contested from Palakkad, managed to double her party’s vote in the constituency - from about 69,000 to 1.37 lakh.
