Ahead of Kerala elections, Amit Shah to arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on January 10

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in Kerala on Sunday (January 10, 2026) to lay down the road map for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s poll strategy for the State’s Assembly elections.

Former BJP State President K. Surendran told The Hindu that Mr. Shah would chair the party’s core committee meeting at the BJP’s State Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram.

“The meeting will likely be more about mustering of the party’s rank-and-file at the booth level to make the NDA’s election machinery fighting fit rather than other specifics, he said. Mr. Surendran said the meeting will also lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kerala.

Mr. Shah’s visit assumed significance against the backdrop of post-poll stocktaking in the party’s state unit, including discussions about whether the NDA had succeeded in expanding its base in Kerala.

A BJP insider, quoting State Election Commission poll data, stated that the NDA had polled 19.26% of total ballots cast in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, its vote share dwindled to 14.76% in the local body polls.

He said the BJP’s Kerala leadership has noted internally that the socio-political context of the Lok Sabha polls differs sharply from that of the local body elections. However, it views the dip in vote share with concern.

“The local body poll results have raised the question of whether the NDA demographic calculations about making further inroads into Christian and Ezhava votes, especially in Central Kerala, had gone way off the mark. Nevertheless, the local body poll results need not always be a weathervane indicating the direction the political winds are blowing, another senior leader said.

Another BJP leader said the Assembly elections will be hard-fought and a close call in scores of constituencies. He noted that Congress’s vote share had declined by 6.35% in the local body elections compared with the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, he said, the erosion of UDF votes seems not to have benefited the NDA, as expected.

By some accounts, the BJP is focusing on 35 Assembly constituencies and aiming to increase its vote share to an optimal 25% in the Assembly polls, to bargain with the LDF and UDF from a position of strength post-elections. Mr. Shah’s and later Mr. Modi’s visit to Thiruvananthapuram also indicated that the capital district has emerged as the centre of gravity of the BJP’s Assembly poll planning.

At least three party heavyweights, including State President Rajiv Chandrasekhar, former Union Minister V. Muraleedharan, and Mr. Surendran, will likely contest from Thiruvananthapuram.

Notably, Mr. Shah had interacted with the party’s respective State leadership in Assam and West Bengal, where Assembly elections are due this year. He will also visit Tamil Nadu, which is facing an Assembly election year, for similar strategy meetings with the BJP’s State leadership.