Worst performance of BJP since 2006 in Puthuppally bypoll

Kottayam: With just 6,558 votes in his ballot box in the Puthuppally bypoll, BJP’s Ligin Lal is set to lose his security deposit.

The candidates have to make a deposit of Rs 10,000 for the assembly elections which will be returned after polls if they secure 1/6th of the polled votes (or 16.7 per cent).

The bypoll was the BJP's worst performance since 2006. In 2021, the party bagged 11,694 votes (8.87 per cent). The best performance was in 2016, when it got 15,993 votes (11.93 per cent).

BJP state president K Surendran reacted to the result that it was a vote against the state government and the drop in BJP number was only a ‘temporary phenomenon’.

Ligin Lal is the Kottayam district president of the party. Many leaders had camped in Puthuppally to steer the campaign.

They raised multiple issues, from the ‘myth’ controversy to the 'underdevelopment' of the constituency. However, nothing resonated with voters. The recent attempt to strike a chord with Christian voters over the ‘rubber politics’ also did not help the party.