Thiruvananthapuram, March 15 (IANS) Kerala General Education Minister V. Sivankutty on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party will have no footing in the Nemom constituency, and expressed confidence that the ruling Left Democratic Front will sweep all 14 Assembly seats in Thiruvananthapuram district in the upcoming Assembly election.

Speaking to reporters, Sivankutty, who represents the Nemom Assembly seat, said the BJP’s prospects will be firmly shut this time too and that the Left Front will retain its strong presence across the capital district.

“There is no reason for the people not to vote for the Left. This is a government that has delivered for everyone and implemented programmes benefiting all sections of society,” he said, defending the record of the government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Nemom has remained one of the most politically significant constituencies in Kerala since 2016, when veteran BJP leader and former Union Minister of State O. Rajagopal scripted history by winning the seat and opening the party’s account in the 140-member Kerala Legislative Assembly for the first time.

The breakthrough victory gave the BJP a symbolic foothold in a state where it had long struggled to convert vote share into Assembly representation.

However, the seat returned to the Left fold in the 2021 Assembly election when Sivankutty defeated senior BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan, a former Governor and ex-state president of the BJP.

The victory enabled Sivankutty to reclaim the constituency he had lost to Rajagopal five years ago.

With the next Assembly election approaching, Nemom is once again expected to witness an intense contest involving the three major political fronts — the LDF, the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Political observers note that Nemom continues to hold symbolic importance for the BJP, which is keen to regain the seat that once marked its historic breakthrough in Kerala politics.

The minister, whose failing health is a concern, also voiced optimism about the Left Front’s overall prospects in the capital district, asserting that the LDF would retain all 14 Assembly seats in the state capital district in the forthcoming election.

State BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar had earlier announced that he would fight his first Assembly battle from Nemom. At the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, even as he lost to sitting three-time MP Shashi Tharoor, Chandrasekhar was leading in the Nemom Assembly segment, which gave him and the BJP confidence to contest from Nemom.

–IANS

sg/dpb