Lok Sabha polls 2024: Rahul Gandhi seeks another term from Wayanad

Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala is set to witness a tough contest between INDIA bloc allies. The Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI), which are part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc are now rivals in Kerala for the key Wayanad seat.

Kerala is one of the few states where the Congress still has a strong presence. All 20 constituencies of Kerala will go to the poll on April 26 in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election.

The Congress has fielded its sitting MP Rahul Gandhi, while, the CPI has fielded its senior leader, Annie Raja. The BJP which is leaving no stone unturned to establish its complete dominance in the 2024 elections, has fielded Kerala State President K Surendran as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from the constituency.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi who is the current sitting MP of Wayanad, won the elections securing 706,367 votes, while LDF candidate PP Suneer secured 274,597 votes and BDJ (S) leader Tushar Vellapally got 78,816 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi won from Wayanad with a huge margin of over 431,000 votes- the highest margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala. He secured 64.7 per cent vote share, defeating LDF candidate PP Suneer.

The NDA had fielded BDJ (S) leader Tushar Vellapally, who secured just around 78,000 votes, which accounted for a mere 7.25 per cent.

Annie Raja is the wife of CPI general secretary D Raja and holds the post of general secretary in the party's National Federation of Indian Women.

The BJP has fielded Surendran as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate in its attempt to put up a tough fight for the Gandhi family scion in Wayanad.

K Surendran is a prominent leader from north Kerala who became the BJP state president in 2020. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Pathanamthitta constituency in 2019 and secured the third position.

Earlier on April 3, Rahul Gandhi and Annie Raja submitted their nomination papers. On the next day, BJP candidate K Surendran submitted his nomination.

The CPI is a partner of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 19 out of 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While the Congress won 15 seats, its allies Indian Union Muslim League, won two seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party won one, and the Kerala Congress (M) won one seat. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won one seat in Alappuzha.

Voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the South Indian state across all 20 seats is scheduled for April 26, while the counting of votes will take place on June 4.