Thiruvananthapuram: Even as political leaders and self-styled analysts continue to work overtime to deconstruct the local-body election results, BJP claimed that it was the only party that made considerable gains in the democratic exercise.
BJP state president K Surendran, who raised allegations against both CPM and Congress for engaging in widespread cross-voting to hamstring his party, justified the assertion by citing NDA’s improved tally. “We increased our grama panchayat seats to 1,182 from 933 and block panchayat wards to 37 from seven. The number of seats in corporations increased from 236 to 320. There was big surge in favour of NDA in Kochi and Kollam corporations. BJP finished second in Kollam by winning 15 seats. If UDF and LDF had not engaged in cross-voting and engineered communal polarization BJP’s performance would have been much more spectacular,” he said.
According to BJP sources, the strands of information from the local level being stitched together indicate the BJP-NDA finished second in at least 2,500 wards. The party now puts the number of seats won by candidates who fought the election on the party symbol at 1,600. The figures would be higher once details of victorious BJP-backed independents emerge. BDJS, too, won a number of seats, though its final figures are yet to get reflected in details published by the state election commission.
BJP leaders claim the party, though it won just a fraction of the close to 22,000 seats to which elections were held, has emerged as a decisive political force in at least one-third of local bodies. NDA has a mandate to rule two municipal corporations, 23 panchayats and is the main opposition in Thiruvananthapuram corporation. Moreover, it would be a crucial factor in at least 150 local bodies, including 14 municipalities where neither UDF nor LDF has a clear majority.
BJP’s vote share was 13.98% in the 2015 local-body election. This time, the party believes it would cross 17%, at least by adding votes polled by party-backed independents. However, a clearer picture on vote share would be available only after the election commission officially announces the same.90