The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has a clear edge in Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and is likely to win 13 of the 20 seats in the state, predicts the Manorama News-VMR survey.
The state goes to polls on April 26.
The survey claims that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is unlikely to open its account in the state this time, too, even as the saffron party has fielded two union ministers and pins high hopes on a few constituencies, including Thrissur.
The UDF is likely to win Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Alathur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Ponnani, Wayanad and Kasaragod constituencies, show the survey results.
The poll outcome, however, is unpredictable in four seats—Vadakara, Kannur, Attingal and Palakkad—that are witnessing a close contest between the UDF and the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
In Thrissur, Chalakkudy and Mavelikkara, the UDF has an upper hand, but the survey does not rule out the possibility of surprise wins in these seats.
In the 2019 general elections, the UDF won 19 seats while the Left only one. The BJP came a distant third in all the seats except Thiruvananthapuram.
Of the total participants of the Manorama survey, 43.38 per cent supported the UDF while 34.74 said they would support the LDF. The NDA received the support of 18.44 per cent of the participants.
More than half of the participants remarked that the Narendra Modi government was misusing the central probe agencies against its political opponents. As many as 54 per cent participants did not find Ayodhya Ram temple construction as an achievement of the Union government, though they credited the Modi government for Women Reservation Act and Vande Bharat trains.
While 56 per cent participants felt Muslims were denied justice in Ayodhya issue, 50.59 per cent claimed India was losing its secular character.
Price hike, farm crisis, communal polarisation, Manipur violence were cited as the failure of the Modi government by a significant number of respondents.
Nearly half of the participants (49 per cent) blamed the Union government in the tussle between Centre and state over financial matters.
In another finding, the survey claims, more than half of the respondents found merit in the money laundering case involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T. Veena.