Thiruvananthapuram, March 31 (IANS): BJP president Amit Shah will launch on April 9 the campaign of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for Kerala assembly elections, said a party official on Thursday.

"Shah will start the campaign at Pathanamthitta at 4 p.m. on April 9," state BJP spokesperson J.R. Padmakumar told reporters here.

Kerala goes to polls on May 16. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has yet to open its account in the 140-member Kerala assembly. 

"Shah will meet workers in Thalassery on the 9th and after the inauguration of the poll campaign at Pathanamthitta, will leave the same day," said Padmakumar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues, Deputy Chief Minister of Goa Francis D'Souza and his fellow party legislators are all arriving to campaign for the BJP in Kerala.

The party has been heartened by recent poll results. It doubled the total number of seats in the last year's local body polls as compared to its performance in 2010 polls.

The BJP's total seats doubled from the 2010 local body polls to reach about 1,100 out of the total 21,871 seats across the three-tier local body structure in the state. Its vote share touched 14 per cent.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP's vote share for the first time touched double digits at 10.83 percent, up from 6.03 per cent in the 2011 assembly polls.

The state unit of the BJP has fielded its top leadership and has also managed to rope in former Indian cricketer S. Sreesanth, who will contest from the Thiruvananthapuram assembly constituency.