The upcoming Lok Sabha elections will see the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) prevail in the majority of seats in Kerala, according to the pre-poll opinion survey conducted by Mathrubhumi and P-MARQ (Politique Marquer). The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) will secure three to four seats. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will remain unable to open an account in Kerala.
Mathrubhumi released survey results from 14 of the state’s 20 constituencies on March 20 and 21. The survey was conducted between March 3 and 17, with 25,821 participants.
As per the survey, UDF will secure seats in Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod, Attingal, Chalakudy, Wayanad, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Malappuram and Kottayam. LDF will secure seats in Vadakara, Palakkad, and Kannur. Mavelikara is expected to have close competition and both LDF and UDF have equal chances, the survey predicts.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the UDF won 19 out of the 20 seats. Of these, 15 were won by the Indian National Congress (INC) and the remaining by its alliance parties. LDF won only in ALappuzha. This means that last time, UDF had won from all the seats that lean towards LDF now as per the survey.
Interestingly, the survey says that UDF will win in Alappuzha, the only one sitting seat of LDF in the 2019 election. It says that UDF candidate KC Venugopal will secure the seat (41% vote share) followed by sitting MP AM Ariff ( 38%) and NDA’s Sobha Surendran (19%).
Wayanad, where the two national leaders – UDF’s Rahul Gandhi and LDF’s Annie Raja – are contesting, will be favorable for Rahul Gandhi (60%), followed by Annie Raja (24%) and NDA (13%). The NDA is yet to announce the candidate in Wayanad.
Vadakara, an ‘A’ class constituency, will witness the battle of two incumbent MLAs with Congress’ Shafi Parambil taking on former Kerala Health minister and CPI(M) leader KK Shailaja. While a close competition is expected in the constituency, the survey says that KK Shailaja would secure the seat (41 %), followed by Shafi Parambil (35%), and NDA’s Praful Krishna (22 %).
In Mavelikara, the survey predicts a close fight between UDF’s Kodikunnil Suresh (41%) and LDF’s CA Arun Kumar (41%).
Other constituency predictions
>Thiruvananthapuram
UDF: Shashi Tharoor - 37 %
LDF: Pannyan Raveendran - 34 %
NDA: Rajeev Chandrasekhar - 27 %.
>Pathanamthitta
UDF: Anto Antony - 33%,
LDF: Thomas Isaac - 31%
NDA: Anil Antony - 31%.
>Palakkad
UDF: V K Sreekandan 36%
LDF: A Vijayaraghavan 38 %,
NDA: C Krishnakumar (NDA) 24 %.
>Malappuram
UDF: E T Muhammed Basheer -54 %
LDF: V Vaseef - 31%
NDA: M Abdul Salam -12%
>Kottayam
UDF: Francis George - 42 %
LDF: Thomas Chazhikadan - 41%
NDA: Tushar Vellappally -10 %.
>Attingal
UDF: Adoor Prakash - 36 %
LDF: V Joy- 32 %
NDA: V Muralidharan - 29%
>Chalakudy
UDF: Benny Behanan - 42 %
|LDF: C Raveendranath -37 %
NDA: KA Unnikrishnan -19 %
>Kannur
UDF: K Sudhakaran - 42%
LDF: MV Jayarajan - 39 %
NDA:C Raghunath - 17%
The 18th Lok Sabha election will be held in seven phases and Kerala will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.