On a day when senior BJP functionary R Balashakar alleged that the CPM and the BJP had struck an underhand electoral deal, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spoke of a “Kerala-level” deal between the BJP and the Congress “on a range of issues”. Pinarayi even wondered whether K Muraleedharan’s high-profile candidature in Nemom was simply a ruse to help the BJP candidate win “like it happened in 2016”.

“We will know the truth of this (Murali’s candidature in Nemom) only in the coming days,” the chief minister said during his sunset briefing on Tuesday. “The earlier experience was very painful. The Congress joined hands with the BJP to let the lotus bloom for the first time ever in Kerala,” Pinarayi said.

“Where did the UDF votes go last time. In 2016, they did not even get the votes they polled in 2011,” Pinarayi said. In 2011, too, the UDF candidate Charupara Ravi of Social Janata (Democratic) party was also third, but had secured 17.38 per cent of the votes. In 2016, V Surendran Pillai of Janata Dal (United) could mobilise just 9.70 per cent of the votes. 47,024 votes