BJP fails to open account in Tamil Nadu, party chief K Annamalai loses from Coimbatore

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign to make inroads in Tamil Nadu has met a disappointing end as state unit chief K Annamalai has lost.

Annamalai lost the Lok Sabha elections from the Coimbatore seat to Ganapathy Rajkumar P of the DMK by a margin of 1,18,068 votes.

As per the trends so far, the DMK-led INDIA bloc in the state is leading on all 39 seats. Initially, it was expected that the alliance would face a tough contest on some seats such as Coimbatore, Vellore, Tirunelveli, and Theni. However, the DMK has had a comfortable sailing on all of these seats.

Annamalai is a former police officer who quit the service in 2019 and joined the BJP the next year. In 2021, he was appointed as the head of the BJP in the state. Since taking over as the state unit chief, he has been vocal against MK Stalin-led government in the state and has often made headlines for his combative style.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Annamalai conceded defeat and said he bowed to the people’s verdict. He also extended congratulations to the winning candidate Rak Kumar.

https://x.com/annamalai_k/status/1798018204285198640

The BJP had invested heavily in Tamil Nadu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visiting the state multiple times. Even as the party managed to cross the 10 per cent vote share, it has not yet won a seat in the state.

Besides Annamalai, senior BJP leaders like former state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan and union minister Radhakrishnan were also in the fray in the state. Both of them are trailing.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP was looking forward to making inroads with multiple seats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. While the BJP won in Kerala’s Thrissur seat, the party could not open its account in Tamil Nadu.