While the CPI(M) and the Congress candidates were supported by their allies from the LDF and UDF coalitions, respectively, the BJP fought this bypoll alone. While the CPI(M) and the Congress candidates were supported by their allies from the LDF and UDF coalitions, respectively, the BJP fought this bypoll alone.

Though it finished third behind the Congress and the CPI(M) in the Aruvikkara by-election, results for which were announced on Tuesday, the BJP gave a jolt to its rivals by increasing its vote share four-fold.

BJP veteran O Rajagopal got 34,145 votes, up from the 7,694 votes the party had got in the 2011 assembly elections. In 2006, the BJP had bagged 1,834 votes when it fielded a Christian candidate in the constituency.

While the CPI(M) and the Congress candidates were supported by their allies from the LDF and UDF coalitions, respectively, the BJP fought this bypoll alone. The party got 12,175 votes less than the CPI(M), which improved its tally by only 197 votes as compared to 2011.

Though the Congress retained the seat, the party got 349 votes less than it did in 2011.

The by-election witnessed a 7 per cent increase in polling as compared to 2011.

“We have grown our vote share at the cost of the CPI(M). Hindu voters are drifting away from them and joining the BJP. My candidature also contributed to the BJP’s performance. This would go a long way in improving the party’s showing in the coming local body elections and assembly elections,” said Rajagopal.

The BJP is yet to open its account in the Kerala assembly.

However, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said his party’s vote bank remained intact. “There was a Hindu consolidation in favour of the BJP against the state government, which is controlled by minority forces. Rajagopal was also a factor… The anti-incumbency votes got divided between the CPI(M) and the BJP. In fact, the winning candidate only got 39 per cent of the votes,” he said.

In Aruvikkara constituency, the upper class Hindu Nair community, to which the candidates of the Congress, the CPI(M) and the BJP belong, constitutes 31 per cent of the population. The second largest segment is the Christian Nadar community, which makes up 24 per cent of the population and is traditionally pro-Congress.

The backward Hindu segment makes up 15 per cent of the electorate, while Muslims account for 14 per cent. The Muslims appear to have rallied behind the Congress, given that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party bagged only 703 votes.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had got 14,000 votes in the Aruvikkara assembly segment, which is part of Attingal Lok Sabha seat.

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