Support for BJProse inMaduraidistrict in 2024 Lok Sabha election, compared with 2016 Assembly election

The BJP, which is aggressively pursuing the row over lighting of a traditional lamp at the Subramaniya Swamy Temple at Thirupparankundram, registered a significant growth in its support base in Madurai district during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, compared with its performance in the 2016 Assembly election.

The two elections have been considered as the national party contested both without the support of the DMK or the AIADMK. In 2016, the BJP went it alone. But in the Lok Sabha election, it forged an alliance with the AMMK, former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, the PMK, and a few other parties.

Of the 10 Assembly constituencies in the district, only eight have been considered because the BJP put up its candidates in the Madurai and Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituencies in 2024. Two other Assembly constituencies — Sholavandan and Usilampatti (part of the Theni Lok Sabha constituency) — did not have the BJP’s candidate in 2024.

In fact, the national party’s showing was better than in the 2014 Lok Sabha election when the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam  (DMDK), then an ally of the BJP, had faced the electorate of Madurai. Eleven years ago, the DMDK’s vote share was 15.03% against the BJP’s 22.64% in 2024. One qualitative difference between 2014 and 2024 was that in the first instance, the BJP had allies — the DMDK and the MDMK — with considerable following in the southern districts, a feature that was absent in 2024.

During the 2016 Assembly election, the BJP put up its candidates in all but Madurai North. Barring Madurai South, the party secured a vote share in a single digit in all others. In Madurai South, it netted close to 11%. But eight years later, the party improved its performance substantially, thanks to a host of factors, including the break-up in its relationship with the AIADMK, with which it had faced the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections.

In five of the eight Assembly segments, the party’s vote share exceeded 20%, with the highest being 32.3% in Madurai South. The lowest this time was 11.75% in Thirumangalam. The party’s score in Thirupparankundram, the centre of the current controversy, was 19.8%.

Senior politician K.S. Radhakrishnan, who hails from the south and joined the national party three months ago, denies the suggestion that the BJP is raking up the controversy for electoral gains. He stresses that the party is taking up the matter as it is keen on preserving “nationalism, Hindu heritage and living culture and traditions of the country”.

BJP veteran H. Raja says the controversy has been there for nearly 40 years, and P. Rajagopalan, a leader of The Hindu Munnani, was murdered in October 1994 because of his stand on the matter.