Thiruvananthapuram: Political parties in Kerala have estimated the likely outcome of the elections held in the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state on April 23 before the results are announced by the Election Commission late next month.
After the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) estimated that it would grab most of the Lok Sabha seats in the state, trouncing both the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP, its political opponents have assessed their electoral performance.
The UDF could get anything between 16 to 18 seats, finds a Congress report.
The party has bright hopes about all seats except Palakkad and Attingal. Analysis from all 20 constituency committees was considered to arrive at this figure.
The Congress believes that it is advantage for its candidates as well as of its allies due to minority consolidation and votes from LDF supporters.
The report states the party candidate in Palakkad could be at a disadvantage due to lack of coordination among its rank and file. Though all differences were kept aside and intense efforts were made in the last two weeks of poll campaign, V K Sreekandan might fall short against the incumbent MP, MB Rajesh, of the LDF, the party has found. Only a strong minority consolidation could make things easy for him.
Though the UDF believes Anto Antony may scrape through from the all-important Pathanamthitta seat, it knows that the result is unpredictable because of various factors. It is also estimated that similar challenging electoral conditions that could have made Shashi Tharoor's task difficult in Thiruvananthapuram were overcome by a strong consolidation of minority votes.
The prospects of Congress' Attingal candidate Adoor Prakash are also not bright, the report estimates. Though the Konni MLA could dent the LDF stronghold, it may not be enough to upstage the incumbent MP and CPM candidate M B Sampath.
The state leadership has received complaints about two local leaders here.
The party has likely made huge inroads into Left bastions Alathur and Kasaragod. Ramya Haridas has likely secured even Left votes in Alathur, the report states.
It is also believed Congress candidate Shanimol Usman overtook her CPM rival A M Arif in the late stages of the campaign in Alappuzha.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and sitting MP K C Venugopal's efforts could have helped her.
Huge win likely in Wayanad
The Congress expects Rahul Gandhi to get a majority of more than 2.5 lakh votes from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. This figure was arrived at in a meeting of all seven Assembly constituency committees. It was presided by KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran.
An official meeting to review poll performance will not happen soon as Chennithala is abroad now. The report from the state will be handed over to the Congress high command by Mullappally on Tuesday.
