THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With hours left for Kerala to go to the polls, the UDF is desperately trying to retain the seats they won in 2019 while LDF is trying to win them back. BJP is confident of opening an account this time.

Congress won 15 seats last time and got 37.46 percent votes. The UDF had made a huge advance in last election which was crucial because of the Sabarimala women's entry issue. The League, the main constituent of the UDF, got 5.48 percent of the votes, while the RSP got 2.46 percent and the Kerala Congress M, which was with UDF at the time, got 2.08 percent. UDF had secured a total of 47.48 percent votes.

LDF, which had to settle for Alappuzha in 2019, got a total of 36.29 percent votes. CPM contested 14 seats and got 25.97 percent votes. In Idukki and Ponnani, the LDF secured 4.24 per cent votes for their independent candidates and CPI who contested four seats won 6.08 percent votes. With the Kottayam seat given to the Kerala Congress, which left the UDF, the CPM is now contesting in 15 seats.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP, which contested 15 seats, managed to secure 13 percent vote share, while the constituent party BDJS won 1.88 per cent votes from four seats. The Kerala Congress, led by PC Thomas, who belonged to the NDA at that time, got only 0.76 percent votes. This time PC Thomas is with Kerala Congress Joseph. NDA got a total of 15.64 percent votes that day.

While the front leadership is claiming that there will be a UDF wave this time, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is claiming that there will be an LDF wave in all 20 constituencies. Two Union Ministers are vying to open an account for the BJP, which has created a three-cornered competition in Kerala.