The BJP won three seats in the recently concluded Kerala Assembly polls. 4 min read Thiruvananthapuram May 13, 2026 08:09 PM IST First published on: May 13, 2026 at 08:09 PM IST A decade after joining the BJP through the party’s missed-call membership drive, B B Gopakumar emerged as the dark horse of the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections. Gopakumar wrested the Chathannoor seat from the CPI, which had held it since 2006, in his third attempt. The victory in a constituency with a strong Hindu vote base — traditionally aligned with the Left in Kerala — and the presence of influential community organisations is now being seen as a possible template for the BJP’s expansion in the state. Chathannoor was one of the three Assembly seats won by the BJP in Kerala this election. The other two — Nemom and Kazhakkoottam — drew attention largely because former Union ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan were in the fray.…