CHENNAI: The BJP has once again struggled to convert its vote share into seats, managing to secure just one seat in the Assembly election despite contesting as part of the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The party’s lone victory came through M Bhojarajan, who edged past TVK’s R Ibrahim by a narrow margin of 976 votes. The BJP had fielded candidates in 27 constituencies as part of the alliance.
This marks a sharp decline from the 2021 Assembly election, when the BJP had won four seats — Coimbatore South, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Modakurichi — all of which it has now lost. Vanathi Srinivasan, who had defeated MNM leader Kamal Haasan in Coimbatore South in 2021, shifted to Coimbatore North this time but lost to TVK’s V Sampath Kumar. Nainar Nagenthran, who contested from Sattur, and MR Gandhi in Nagercoil also failed to retain their seats, while S Krithika, fielded in Modakurichi, was defeated.
Union Minister L Murugan suffered a significant loss in Avinashi (SC), going down to S Kamali by a margin of 15,373 votes, despite securing the party’s highest vote share of 29.72% in the constituency. The BJP also recorded a relatively strong vote share of 28.49% in Gandarvakkottai (SC), but failed to translate this into victory. Across the state, the party was pushed to the third position in 19 constituencies. Its lowest vote share was recorded in Avadi at 11.45%.
Tamilisai Soundararajan, who contested from Mylapore, and Vanathi Srinivasan were also among candidates who were pushed to third place. Historically, the BJP has found it difficult to win Assembly seats. It failed to win any seats in the 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections. Its best performance came in 2001, when, as part of a DMK-led alliance, it secured four seats. Though it did not secure any seats in the 2024 LS elections, the party’s vote share crossed double digits even without a major Dravidian ally.
