Manorama News-VMR Kerala Exit Poll: Hat-trick likely for UDF's VP Sajeendran despite Twenty20 threat

UDF candidate V P Sajeendran will retain the Kunnathunad assembly constituency in Ernakulam district, which witnessed a tough triangular contest, Manorama News-VMR exit poll results predicts.

Congress's sitting legislator Sajeendran faced a tough fight from LDF's P V Sreenijin and the corporate-backed Twenty20's Sujith P Surendran. Sajeendran will poll 33.6 per cent of votes, according to the exit poll. Sreenijin is set to get 31.7 per cent and Sujith Surendran 17.5 per cent.

This is Sajeendran's third electoral race from Kunnathunad.

In 2016, Sajeendran won against CPM's Shiji Sivaji by a narrow margin of 2,679 votes. Before that, he had won by 8,732 votes in 2011 against CPM's MA Surendran.

Kunnathunad, an otherwise low-profile constituency, became an electoral hotspot this time with the entry of the Anna Kitex-backed Twenty20 Party in the assembly election fray. Twenty20 is ruling four panchayats in the constituency. Some political observers saw Twenty20 spoiling the chances of both the UDF and LDF in the constituency.

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