KASARGOD: For decades, election after election, victory has eluded the saffron party by a thin margin in Manjeshwar, the northernmost assembly constituency of Kerala. Despite consolidating its presence and vote share, the BJP continues to wrestle with the UDF, especially the IUML, for dominance in Manjeshwar, a grade A constituency for the party.
In an interesting turn of events in the first week of January, a Facebook post by BJP Kasaragod district president M L Ashwini -- written in Kannada -- about her wings being clipped because she was a woman raised many speculations. One touched on the obstacles before her in contesting the assembly seat.
While Ashwini ruled out any political angle to her post, talks were rife the local BJP cadre preferred seasoned faces in Manjeshwar where the BJP has worked for decades to consolidate its vote bank along the Kerala-Karnataka border, especially in coastal Karnataka known as the laboratory of Hindutva.
In February, former BJP state president K Surendran returned to Kasaragod to lead a ‘victory parade’ after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) closed the Arikady toll plaza, which was forcing Manjeshwar residents to pay a double toll -- at Arikady and Thalappady -- for the commute between Kasaragod and Mangaluru.
The district unit claimed the party performed better in the 2025 local body elections, compared to previous elections, as it won five panchayats, including Badiyadka where it tied with the UDF, and the lot favoured the BJP.
But the party has not fared that well in Manjeshwar constituency consisting of Enmakaje, Kumbla, Mangalpady, Manjeshwar, Meenja, Paivalike, Puthige and Vorkady panchayats. All eight panchayats in Manjeshwar assembly constituency are now ruled by the UDF.
The BJP managed to win only 36 of the 162 panchayat wards in the constituency, compared to 40 out of 148 wards in 2020, with the winning percentage dropping from 27% to 22%. In fact, the BJP lost its sitting seat in Puthige division of the Kasaragod district panchayat. The Congress fielded Somashekara J S, a popular leader among Kannada-speaking communities, and he wrested the seat.
Meanwhile, the IUML has emerged stronger in Manjeshwar, where its UDF ally, the Congress, and the Left parties have a lighter presence compared to the rest of Kerala. The League managed to regain Manjeshwar panchayat which had gone to the independents in 2020. In the 2021 assembly election, IUML’s A K M Ashraf won the Manjeshwar seat with a slender margin of 745 votes, while his predecessor P B Abdul Razak had won with a razor-thin margin of 89 votes in 2016.
Nevertheless, Ashraf seems to be consolidating his position in recent times. The recent agitation against the toll collection at Arikady has granted him yet another opportunity with elections round the corner.
“Over the past five years, I have stood with the people of Manjeshwar in every issue, including the Shirur tragedy in 2024. I might be an opposition MLA, but I have brought in several facilities in the medical, education, and sports sectors. All eight panchayats now have stadiums, besides new buildings coming up at the Uppala hospital and the Manjeshwar health centre,” Ashraf told TNIE.
The special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll will not dent the prospects of the UDF in Manjeshwar, he said.
“In a place where everyone has passports and birth certificates, SIR can’t really give the edge the BJP wants. In fact, it will only backfire as the votes will consolidate,” Ashraf added.