CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Sobha Surendran, the BJP candidate who amassed considerable number of votes in the Alappuzha Lok Sabha elections, is a strong contender to be nominated as BJP’s candidate for the upcoming by-election in Palakkad assembly seat, according to local reports. She garnered 2.99 lakh votes, increasing BJP vote share from 17.24 per cent to 28.3 per cent.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Sobha won 2.4 lakh votes in Attingal up from 90,528 votes one by BJP’s S. Girijakumari in 2014.
The bypoll in Palakkad was necessitated as MLA Shafi Parampil vacated the assembly seat after winning from Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency.
Many in the saffron party’s Kerala unit believe that Sobha who increased vote share in all constituencies that she contested will be right candidate to ensure BJP’s return to the state assembly. Historically, the only seat held by BJP in Kerala assembly was Nemom, where O. Rajagopal won in 2016. The party drew a blank in the 2021 assembly polls.
In the 2021 assembly polls, Shafi Parampil won from Palakkad with a humble majority of 3,859 votes against BJP’s E. Sreedharan, who is known as the Metroman
