Tough competition for UDF in seven places, three-cornered battle in three constituencies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: UDF is facing tough competition in seven sitting seats as the election campaign is heating up. The competition is intensifying in Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Alathur, Vatakara and Kannur. Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal and Thrissur constituencies will be seeing three-cornered contests.

While UDF is trying to retain the constituencies it won last time, LDF is desperately trying to win them back. BJP is confident of opening an account. Even though there is no case of offending faith like Sabarimala, the Citizenship Amendment Act is being discussed.

Dr Shashi Tharoor, who won a hat-trick in the capital, is facing tough competition from both fronts this time. NDA says it will open its account while the LDF, which came in third place twice, is campaigning cautiously.

Adoor Prakash, who won in Attingal in 2019 by a majority of more than 38,000, is also facing tough competition this time. The CPM is hoping to regain the 11 percent vote and constituency it lost last time through V Joy, who is also the district secretary. BJP's V Muraleedharan is counting on winning by increasing the vote share.

Tough competition in Alappuzha also

UDF's hope is on KC Venugopal as AM Ariff steps up his campaign to retain Alappuzha, CPM's only sitting seat. NDA candidate Shobha Surendran is also in a strong position. Thrissur became the stage for the three-cornered battle when K Muraleedharan came to Thrissur after changing his constituency. BJP candidate Suresh Gopi also entering the fray along with Sunil Kumar of LDF, a former minister and a popular leader, has made the result of the contest unpredictable. LDF hopes to regain the seat in Alathur through K Radhakrishnan.

Shafi Parambil-KK Shailaja contest result in Vatakara is also unpredictable. Last time, UDF had secured 49.81 percent of votes in Vatakara. LDF's M Vijayarajan is in the field to take back the constituency from K Sudhakaran who won 50 percent of the votes. Apart from this, it remains to be seen whether BJP's vote share will increase in North Kerala.