In a major surprise, Manorama News-VMR Kerala Exit Poll results announced on Friday has predicted a win for LDF candidate Antony Raju in Thiruvananthapuram. The poll results show Raju could edge out both sitting MLA V S Sivakumar and BJP's actor-cum-politician, Krishnakumar.

Exit poll figures show that Raju will secure 37.4 per cent votes.

Sitting MLA and Congress's V S Sivakumar, who was eyeing a hat-trick, will be runner-up, securing 35 per cent votes. BJP's Krishnakumar could be third this time, mobilising 20 per cent votes. If LDF's Antony Raju (Janadhipathya Kerala Congress), who was second by a whisker in 2016, could triumph this time it would mostly with the help of Latin Christian votes, a dominant community in the constituency.

In 2016, the BJP vote share had witnessed a massive surge, from 10.76 per cent in 2011 to 27.54 in 2016. Reason why the BJP had bracketed Thiruvananthapuram among its 'A plus' category seats in Kerala. It was Sreesanth's commendable performance as a BJP candidate that allowed Congress's V S Sivakumar to hold on to the seat for a second time.

His vote share had declined from 45.87 per cent in 2011 to 36.82 per cent, a nearly 10 per cent drop. Still, if he managed to beat LDF's Antony Raju by a margin of 10,905 votes, it was only because Sreesanth swallowed up a larger portion of Raju's votes. And the LDF vote share fell from 40.87 per cent to 28.18 per cent.

This time, Sivakumar has faced internal bitterness. There were already charges that in 2016 he had conspired against Congress candidates in other constituencies for his gain. There were murmurs that party workers were waiting for revenge.

Now, along with Congress infighting, Krishnakumar also seems to have eatne into Sivakumar's votes, paving the way for Raju's victory.