As Suresh Gopi emerged victorious in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has breached the South citadel and made fresh inroads in Kerala, making him the first-ever BJP MP in Kerala.
Suresh Gopi defeated the Communist Party of India candidate VS Sunilkumar and Indian National Congress candidate K Muraleedharan. 4,12,338 votes were cast in favour of Suresh Gopi in Thrissur, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI) data.
Results show that the 65-year-old Malayalam actor’s closest rival, Sunilkumar, is placed second by securing 3,37,652 votes. Another candidate in the electoral race, K Muraleedharan has secured 3,28,124 votes.
Gopi contested from the constituency for a second consecutive time. In 2019, he was defeated by Congress candidate TN Prathapan with 1,21,267 votes and finished a distant third.
The popular Malayalam actor’s political journey began in April 2016 as a Rajya Sabha member. He was nominated by the President of India in the category of eminent citizens. Later in October, he officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Thrissur, which comprises seven assembly segments, went to polls in the second phase on April 26 and recorded an impressive voter turnout of 72.9 per cent.
Other than Thrissur, BJP has been unable to secure victory on any other seat in Kerala.