BJP's VV Rajesh becomes Thiruvananthapuram Mayor after party topples Left's 45-year-rule in city corporation

Rajesh, a councillor from Kodunganoor, secured 51 votes in the mayoral election. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate R P Shivaji received 29 votes, while the United Democratic Front (UDF) nominee K S Sabarinathan managed 17 votes.

The BJP had announced Rajesh as its mayoral candidate on Thursday for the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, a civic body the party had never governed before. Rajesh was backed by 50 BJP councillors and one Independent, enabling the party to clinch the mayoral post.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has emerged as the single largest bloc in the corporation, ending the Left’s uninterrupted 45-year rule over the civic body in the Kerala capital.

The outcome carries additional political significance as Thiruvananthapuram district is the parliamentary constituency of senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor.

The NDA’s breakthrough in the capital highlights the BJP’s growing inroads into an urban region traditionally dominated by the Left and the Congress, signalling a potential shift in voter sentiment.

Taken together, the Thiruvananthapuram verdict reflects a changing urban political mood in Kerala—an area where the BJP has historically struggled to translate vote share into institutional control.