Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the “land of secularism” from the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency must be examined critically, The Indian Express reported.
On Tuesday, the Hindutva party secured its first-ever Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, with the victory of actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi from Thrissur. Gopi defeated VS Sunilkumar of the Communist Party of India by 74,686 votes.
The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front managed to clinch only one of the 20 seats in Kerala. The United Democratic Front, helmed by the Congress, secured 18 seats.
The Left Democratic Front had won a single seat in the 2019 general elections too.
On Wednesday, Vijayan said that the Left Democratic Front did not secure the victory it expected.
“Drawbacks will be rectified,” he said in an official communication, according to The Indian Express. “Efforts to counter the wicked campaign against the government and to clear people’s misconceptions will be strengthened.”
Gopi’s win from the Thrissur seat would be taken seriously, the chief minister said. “That BJP has won in a land of democracy and secularism [and it] has to be examined critically,” he said.
However, he said that the overall results of the Lok Sabha elections constituted a blow to the BJP’s efforts to subvert constitutional values.
“The result shows people have rejected all the propaganda with the backing of the media, the administration, central agencies and money power,” he said. “People of India have shattered BJP’s illusion that they can go ahead by raising communalism and sectarianism.”
While the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is likely to form the government at the Centre, the Hindutva party itself failed to secure the majority in the Lok Sabha, with its final tally at 240 seats. The final tally of the National Democratic Alliance was 292 seats.
A party or coalition requires 272 seats in the 543-member Lower House of Parliament to do so.
The Congress won 99 seats. The Opposition INDIA bloc collectively bagged 232 seats.
While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress are partners in the INDIA bloc, they contested the polls alone in Kerala.
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