Pandalam slips from BJP’s grip as Sabarimala strategy falters

In the end, the local body elections verdict in Pandalam, the lone municipality ruled by the BJP in South Kerala for the past five years, tells a very different story from what the party had hoped for.

Rather than consolidating upper caste Hindu votes against the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the outcome on Saturday has exposed a sharp erosion in the support base of the saffron party.

The party’s heavy reliance on Sabarimala sentiment failed spectacularly and instead of consolidating upper caste Hindu votes to counter the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has witnessed its share of seats dropping from 18 in 2020 to a mere nine.

The setback extended to Kulanada, an adjacent local body that the BJP had held for 15 years. Here, the LDF surged to eight wards, while the NDA and Others managed just four each and the United Democratic Front scraped through with a single seat.

Political equations in Pandalam, a civic body under the long shadow of the Sabarimala hill, has long been intertwined with the currents of the hill shrine. The BJP had risen to power here post the 2018 agitation against the entry of women to he hill shrine. This time, the party primarily pinned its hopes on the Sabarimala gold scam to galvanise Hindu sentiment. But the gamble backfired.

The sudden slide in seats has left local BJP leaders scrambling for explanations. “A detailed analysis is yet to be done, but the results underline the urgent need to strengthen the party at the grassroots,” acknowledged a senior BJP functionary.

Behind the party’s poor showing lies a tangle of missteps, which include flawed candidate selection, lack of sustained organisational work, and a failure to present a credible alternative. “Beyond Sabarimala, the BJP had little to showcase. Internal dissent over candidate selections and growing friction with the RSS only added to the woes,” another senior source noted.

Symbolically, the party also stumbled in the Sabarimala ward of the Ranni–Perunad panchayat, encompassing the hill shrine. Here, the BJP candidate was relegated to the third spot as the LDF ultimately clinched victory by a toss of a coin. The LDF also went on to win the local body with 10 seats.