Vijayan dismisses election surveys as 'big bluff'

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday dismissed election surveys as "big bluffs" far from the reality, adding that his Left government will win 18 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Vijayan made the remark while addressing an election rally here.

The latest poll surveys have predicted a near washout for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidates.

While one predicted just three seats for the LDF, another said the party will win only four, with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) slated to get 14 to 17 seats.

The surveys also predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA has bright chances to win one seat.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Oommen Chandy-led Congress government won 12 seats with the LDF winning eight and the BJP finished a close second in the Thiruvananthapuram seat and a distant third in all the other 19 seats.

"These election surveys fail to bring out the correct perspective and is far from reality. It is just a vehicle to ensure that those who are down get a new lease of life, but it never happens at all," Vijayan said.

"The BJP and now the Congress has been trying to influence the media."

In Thiruvananthapuram, surveys have shown that the BJP-led NDA candidate Kummanem Rajasekheran was giving a tough fight to the two-time sitting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

In response, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said he did not believe the survey.

"What I can say is that the UDF will do well," Chennithala told the media in Kannur.

--IANS

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