As Narendra Modi tsunami swept the country in 2019 general elections, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the only two states where the saffron party's magic failed to charm voters.

In Tamil Nadu, DMK-led alliance is sweeping the southern state by leading in 32 of the 38 Lok Sabha seats.

The ruling AIADMK, which had registered a landslide in the 2014 elections under the leadership of its supremo late J Jayalalithaa, is trailing in most of the 20 seats it contested as also its allies, including the BJP. The AIADMK-led NDA is ahead in only three constituencies, according to the latest Election Commission trends.

Coming to Kerala, Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is leading in 19 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats, with BJP losing an early trend in Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram seats.

BJP was fighting the elections in Kerala on Sabarimala temple entry, which saw massive protests over the entry of young women at the shrine.

The only respite for the saffron party, which had tried to galvanise votes, riding on the Sabarimala women entry issue, is in Thiruvananthapuram constituency, where BJP's Kummanam Rajashekharan has been steady in the second position behind Shashi Tharoor with 1,25,986 votes.

The CPM is battling for survival. The party is close to losing the status of a national party, no longer a player in former citadels like Tripura and West Bengal. Kerala is its last bastion in the country.

First Published:May 23, 2019 1:42 PM IST