NEW DELHI, July 6 (Xinhua) -- An Indian court has sentenced 11 people to life for killing a member of the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in southern state of Kerala in 2008.

"The additional district sessions court in Thalassery handed down the punishment to the 11 people after conviting them of the murder Thursday," a lawyer said Friday.

The court has also imposed a fine of 50,000 rupees (700 U.S. dollars) on each of the convicts, of which 300,000 rupees (4,200 U.S. dollars) would be given to the victim's family, he said.

According to police, the BJP member, also an auto-rickshaw driver, was hacked to death by the convicts while he was waiting to pick up passengers at Chittariparamba town in March 2008.

The 11 were angry at the auto-rickshaw driver for joining the BJP, the police said in its charge sheet filed at the court against them.

Kerala is currently ruled by the Communist Party of India, which came to power in 2016 after decimating the country's main opposition Congress party that governed the state for five years.

However, the BJP has been trying its best to make inroads into Kerala, with general elctions slated for next year.?