CPM hopes LDF will win 13 seats

Thiruvananthauram:  Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) hopes that Left Democratic Front   (LDF) which it leads,  will clinch 13 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.  

As a preliminary assessment of the political scenario after the first round of campaigning,  the party's state secretariat which met on Wednesday,  also suspects that a  Congress-League-BJP axis is likely in five seats, i.e. Kannur, Vadakara,  Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Kollam.

The seats expected to go the LDF way are the eight seats the front won in 2014 plus five others.   The constituencies that eluded LDF in 2014 due to lack of vigilance, i.e. Kollam,  Mavelikkara, Alappuzha,  Vadakara and Kozhikode can be won this time.  However,  Thiruvananthapuram does not figure in the party's tally of seats tipped to be recaptured.

The assessment also forecasts a higher majority in Thrissur and Chalakkudy.   In places where the Congrress-League-BJP axis is likely,   the premise is that BJP will field relatively weak candidates.  In Ernakulam, with the elimination of KV Thomas from the fray,   UDF has lost its upper hand and that is what drives the front to seek BJP votes.  In return for the BJP votes thus garnered in five constituencies,  Congress will create make room for BJP to win the Pathanamthitta seat, CM feels.

In Vadakara,  the UDF is conducting a campaign creating an impression that K Muraleedharan is a candidate capable of taking on P Jayarajan.  Even if RMP lends its support,  Muraleedharan will not benefit from that.  CPM anticipates that in addition to its own political votes,  there will be votes against the opportunism of RMP too.  According to CPM,  even if there is the three-party  under the table deal,  UDF cannot win Vadakara.