INC wins majority of Christian seats in Kerala, BJP opens account with Thrissur

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The Indian National Congress (INC) won in seven of the nine Christian majority constituencies in Kerala, data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) showed. INC won in Wayanad, Chalakudy, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, Mavelikkara and Pathanamtthitta. Kerala Congress won in Kottayam, and the Bharatiya Janaya Party won in Thrissur.

INC's Tharoor won in Thiruvananthapuram against Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar by 16,077 votes. Rahul Gandhi won in Wayanad by 3,64,422 votes.

Kerala Congress' ADV K Francis George won with a margin of 87,266 votes in Kottayam.

And BJP opened its account in Kerala with Suresh Gopi winning in Thrissur.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are crucial for both the Indian National Congress (INC) and the NDA in Kerala. With 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in contention, the state saw polling on April 26, achieving a voter turnout of 70.35%, down from 77.84% in 2019.

According to the News18 mega exit poll, the NDA is set to open its account in Kerala by bagging one to three seats, while the INDIA Bloc is likely to win 15 to 18 seats in Kerala. Of this, 12 to 15 seats could go to Congress alone, the survey projected. The exit poll also showed that this will reduce the seat share of the Left to two to five seats in the 2024 general elections. Meanwhile, the vote share of the UDF is expected to stand at 45 percent, LDF at 36, NDA at 16, and Others at 3 percent.

Kerala turned out to be a Congress stronghold in the past election. In the 2019 polls, the Indian National Congress (INC) secured a majority of the seats in the state, while the NDA failed to win a single one.

In fact, in the previous Lok Sabha elections held in 2019, the direct contest was between the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). The NDA votes could play a crucial role in determining whether the UDF can replicate its 2019 performance.