As counting for Kerala’s 140 assembly seats enters the last leg, the BJP looks likely to draw a blank. Though the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was leading in three seats—Nemom, Thrissur and Palakkad—in the initial rounds, it lost momentum. Projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, ‘metro man’ E. Sreedharan lost the Palakkad seat to Shafi Parambil of the Congress by 3863 votes. Sreedharan’s candidature was among the most discussed topics throughout the campaign, also in national media.