One of the most discussed aspects regarding the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala was the arrival of Rahul Gandhi as the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) candidate from the Wayanad constituency, which led to talks about a “Rahul wave” in the state. But a survey conducted by Asianet News, along with AZ research, feels otherwise.
According to a report by Asianet News, the majority of the people who took part in the survey denied the presence of any “Rahul wave”.
Sixty-four percent of the people who took part in the survey said that the candidature of the Congress President from the Wayanad seat will not have an impact on the election results in the state, and many, according to the survey, also felt that there was no need for Rahul to contest from Wayanad.
Other issues affecting the polls
Apart from the impact that Rahul Gandhi will create, Asianet News had also done a survey on whether the Sabarimala issue will affect the way people voted in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As per the survey results published by Asianet in February, 64% of the people felt that Sabarimala will be a huge issue in the upcoming elections. However, in the survey published on Sunday, only 47% of the people felt that the Sabarimala controversy will have an impact.
It was also found that issues such as unemployment, corruption and development will be the main focus areas based on which people will be voting this time.
Another major constituency that has been grabbing eyeballs in the state is the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, where it is a triangular contest between three high-profile candidates such as UDF’s sitting MP Shashi Tharoor, BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan and LDF’s C Divakaran.
According to the survey, Kummanam Rajasekharan is shown to have an upper hand in the polls and is projected to win by a margin of 6% to Shashi Tharoor, who is in the second position, followed by C Divakaran.