
After senior BJP leader O Rajagopal broke the party’s jinx in 2016 by winning its first seat in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, poll pundits predicted there would be no turning back for the saffron party in the state. However, the 2021 election turned out to be a damp squib for the BJP, which was unable to increase its seats and also lost its only seat in Nemom to its arch rival, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI[M])