Kerala: How LDF, UDF are cashing in on BJP MP Suresh Gopi’s silence on Thrissur ‘vote chori’ allegations, Chhattisgarh nuns’ arrest

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Thrissur constituency—where the BJP pulled off a surprise victory—recorded the highest increase in the number of voters in Kerala. Compared to 2019, Thrissur added 1,46,673 new voters to its rolls. After a high-intensity triangular contest, BJP candidate and film star-turned-politician Suresh Gopi secured a historic win with a margin of over 74,000 votes, delivering the saffron party its first-ever Lok Sabha triumph in Kerala.

Now, in the charged political climate following Rahul Gandhi’s explosive allegations of large-scale voter fraud in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura, the BJP’s win in Thrissur—and the alleged absence and silence of its MP on crucial issues—has become a rallying point for both the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF. Allegations have surfaced that individuals close to Gopi, including his brother Subhash Gopi—who has a vote in another constituency—voted in Thrissur, and that there was a concerted effort to add names to Thrissur’s electoral roll belonging to people with links to saffron politics who were not residents of the constituency.

By targeting Suresh Gopi and his victory in Thrissur, both the UDF and LDF are striking at the very core of the BJP’s political strategy in Kerala.

Over the past three decades, Thrissur has displayed a clear swing pattern, with the UDF and LDF winning alternately since 1991. In 2024, however, Thrissur went to the BJP—breaking the party’s long-standing jinx of never having won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. The victory was the biggest shock for both the UDF and LDF in the 2024 general elections. Notably, the Congress, which held the seat, was pushed to the third position.

While Hindus form the majority in Thrissur, Christians make up about 24 per cent and Muslims about 15 per cent of the population. Analysts noted that a significant shift in Christian votes had contributed to Gopi’s victory—a development that stunned both the UDF and LDF. For the BJP, it was seen as validation of its Christian outreach strategy in Kerala, a campaign in which even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had played an active role.

Since then, the BJP has sought to maintain the narrative that sections of the Christian community—especially Catholics—are moving towards the party. Gopi himself cultivated an image as a staunch admirer of the Christian faith, making frequent visits to churches and offering donations.

That narrative, however, faced its biggest challenge when Catholic nuns were arrested in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and religious conversion. The incident provoked outrage in Kerala’s Christian circles. In damage control mode, the state BJP dispatched a representative to Chhattisgarh to speak to the party leadership there, while the Kerala state president personally lobbied the BJP central leadership for the nuns’ release. When bail was granted, the Kerala BJP sought to claim credit.

Through it all, however, Suresh Gopi—who had gone to great lengths to remain in the good books of Kerala’s Christian leadership—remained silent. For his critics, that silence spoke louder than words.

Notably, on August 8, the Malankara Orthodox Church’s Thrissur Diocese Metropolitan Mar Yuhanon Meletius posted a sarcastic post on his social profile: “We can’t find the actor we Thrissur residents elected and sent to Delhi—should we file a missing person report with the police?” Notably, as the voter fraud allegations were raised on one hand by leaders from both LDF and UDF, a student leader belonging to KSU filed a ‘man-missing’ complaint with the Thrissur City police, seeking a probe into the ‘disappearance’ of the Union minister. In the complaint, the KSU leader alleged that Suresh Gopi went missing after the arrest of two Malayali nuns in Chhattisgarh.

Notably, this offensive against him—combining allegations of voter fraud with criticism of his silence and absence when minorities are attacked—also carries an indirect message to Church leadership. In the aftermath of the nuns’ release from jail, remarks from certain Christian leaders suggested that the Church could still maintain a good relationship with the saffron party. The LDF leadership had openly criticised a Catholic bishop over the issue, while the UDF’s murmurs in the matter have been subtler so far.

Interestingly, by targeting Gopi, both the UDF and LDF see an opportunity to send a message to the Church leadership as well—keeping alive the narrative of the BJP’s double standards, especially on matters concerning the protection of minorities.

Kerala’s unique demographic landscape poses a challenge to the BJP’s traditional Hindu-consolidation electoral strategy. With Hindus making up just over half the state’s population—and their votes split among the UDF, LDF, and BJP—the party has long recognised that Hindu votes alone are insufficient to secure victory in the state’s triangular contests. Its Kerala playbook, therefore, focuses on drawing support from sections of the Christian community, in addition to eyeing Hindu consolidation. Suresh Gopi’s win in Thrissur is the first major tangible outcome of this approach, and the BJP now hopes to replicate this success—creating similar upsets in local body elections and, soon, in the fast-approaching assembly polls. And, it is against this vision that both the UDF and LDF are making their offensive. By raising the allegations of voter fraud, the UDF and LDF are clearly trying to undermine the BJP narrative that a section of minorities is shifting towards the latter.

The campaigns by the UDF and LDF, along with strong reactions from the Kerala media, have now compelled Gopi to visit Thrissur. However, when questioned by the media about the voter fraud allegations or his silence in the nuns’ case, he chose not to respond. Interestingly, the voter fraud allegations strike at the heart of Gopi’s post-election narrative—that his win was fuelled by support from non-partisan voters. This angle is reinforced by claims that RSS leaders from other constituencies managed to secure inclusion in Thrissur’s electoral roll. It is also presents a challenge to Suresh Gopi’s carefully crafted image as an outsider to hardcore Hindutva politics.