Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the federal coalition government, created history on May 19 when it won its first seat in the legislative assembly of Kerala.
Olencherry Rajagopal, a former federal minister, won from Nemom, a suburb of state capital Thiruvananthapuram, opening his party’s account in the southern Indian state. He defeated V Sivankutty, sitting legislator of Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The BJP, considered to be a pro-Hindu party, has contested parliamentary and legislative assembly elections in the state since its formation in 1980.
Nemom was one of the segments where the BJP had pinned its hope the most to open its account in the legislature. At one time during the counting, the party was leading in as many as eight seats. In several constituency it has emerged the second largest party.
Rajagopal had lost narrowly in the previous parliamentary and assembly elections.
The 86-year-old leader maintained clear lead right from the beginning of the vote counting. Rajagopal had lost to Sivankutty in a photo finish in the 2011 assembly polls.
Kerala voted on May 16 to elect the 140-member legislative assembly.
The Marxist-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 91 seats in the house, wresting power from the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which won 47 seats. Rajagopal and P C George, an independent, won the other two seats.
Hailing Rajagopal’s victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “I salute all those who built the BJP in Kerala, brick by brick, decade after decade. It is due to them that we are seeing this day.”