According to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is poised for a consecutive victory in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. The poll indicates that Gandhi holds a significant advantage over K Surendran, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and state party chief.
The exit poll, conducted through 5.8 lakh interviews across all 543 parliamentary constituencies, suggests that Gandhi has established a comfortable lead in Wayanad. However, the caveat of exit polls being prone to inaccuracy must be noted.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi secured an impressive victory in Wayanad, garnering over 7 lakh votes. His closest rival, CPI candidate P.P. Suneer, trailed significantly with 2.7 lakh votes.
Despite the Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) forming an alliance in the national INDIA bloc, the Left Front coalition in Kerala, which includes the CPI, fielded its own candidates in all constituencies, including Wayanad. Annie Raja, a senior CPI leader, was nominated to contest against Gandhi. The CPI also fielded Pannyan Raveendran in Thiruvananthapuram, another seat currently held by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
The CPI and other Left parties are engaged in a direct electoral battle with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala.
