Christian outreach move falls flat in Nilambur; BJP strategy becoming old school?

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP’s newfound political strategy targeting Christian votes failed to find footing in Nilambur. BJP fielded Mohan George, a member of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Nilambur, only after considering the influence of the Malankara church in the constituency. The bet was to bring Christian votes alongside the Hindu votes in the region.

However, the reality hit different as the saffron party seldom made any impact in the Christian-dominated Chungathara panchayat.

BJP in Chungathara Panchayat:

• 1964 votes in 2016
• 1072 votes in 2021
• 1112 votes in 2025

BJP has been trying new ways to woo the Christian section in Kerala after the party's LS triumph in Thrissur. The saffron party hoped to amass Christian votes in the context of wildlife attacks and the Munambam Waqf land issue, but to no avail. Nilambur serves as a message for BJP, letting them know that convincing Christian sections is not as easy as it seems on paper.

BJP will thoroughly examine the defeat and review the candidate selection.

In 2016, the NDA's BDJS candidate got 12,284 votes from Nilambur. In 2021, BJP contested directly from the place and got just 8595 votes. This time, they got 8648 votes. The BJP has 8000 basic votes in the constituency. The traditionally Hindu and Dalit votes remained intact.

This is BJP’s first election under the tutelage of new state chief Rajeev Chandrashekar. Considering the demography and lacklustre campaigning, BJP didn’t suffer any major setback. However, the party will have to do course corrections before heading towards the 2026 assembly polls. BJP had expected at least 10,000 votes from the constituency for Mohan George. The party will have to devise a new strategy for the local body elections to widen its base in Kerala.