Wayanad exit polls 2024: Will the Wayanad fight go in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s favour? Will he be able to recreate the 2019 magic, the landslide victory that propelled him with a 4.3 lakh votes margin.
Poll pundits expect Congress to win this state favourably, but BJP too has made an impression. As per Axis My India-India Today exit poll, INC-UDF is expected to win 18 seats, while BJP is expected to win 2-3 seats. Rahul Gandhi is expected to retain the Wayanad seat.
The stakes remain the same as the previous Lok Sabha elections but the players are different this time. Gandhi is facing BJP state president K Surendran and Communist Party of India’s (CPI’s) Annie Raja. Annie Raja, wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, is fighting elections for the first time, while Surendran had fought elections twice before.
In 2019’s Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi had won 706,367 votes, while LDF candidate PP Suneer bagged 274,597 votes and BDJ (S) leader Tushar Vellapally got 78,816 votes.
Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency includes the districts of Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram. With 40 per cent Hindu, 40 per cent Muslim and 20 per cent Christian population, Wayanad has a predominantly rural electorate.
While political pundits had expected Gandhi to retain the seat, it remains to be seen how it will eventually play out. Rahul Gandhi is also fighting from the Raebareli seat that was given up by Sonia Gandhi this year. If he wins both the seats, he would have to give up one.
In the event that both the seats are won by Gandhi, giving up Wayanad – a stronghold of the Congress since its inception in 2008, will leave the people of the constituency displeased. On the other hand is Raebareli, another stronghold of the Congress as well as the Gandhi family, and one of the most influential constituencies in the nation.