Rahul's victory in Wayanad almost certain

A pro-Rahul Gandhi wave seems to be prevailing at the high-range district Wayanad as many voters see it as a chance to vote for the future Prime Minister of India.

Even pro-CPM and pro-BJP voters admit that Rahul’s victory is almost sure. The Rahul wave is most prevalent among young and new voters of the constituency.

Congress already has an upper hand in the three assembly segments of Wayanad constituency that is in Malappuram district. The Indian Union Muslim League, a key partner of the Congress in Kerala, enjoys good influence in these Muslim dominated areas.

It is this pro-Muslim factor that the Left-front and the BJP use to give communal colour to Rahul's Wayanad candidature by accusing Rahul of eyeing the minority community votes.

The crucial votes will be that of the three constituencies that fall within Wayanad district - Kalpetta, Mananthavady and Sultan Bathery. The Left-front won two constituencies here in the 2016 Assembly elections.

A CPI worker of Wayanad told DH that the party found Rahul Gandhi to be popular among young voters with no political prejudices. Rahul S, an young engineer at Kalpetta, also said that Rahul was attracting the youngsters. There are about a lakh young voters in the constituency.

Rajan, an autorickshaw driver in Kalpetta town, said that the only question was whether Rahul can cross the 1.5 lakh majority secured by Congress candidate M I Shanavaz in 2009 election.

Anti-incumbency to help Congress

A large section of farmers and traders of Wayanad strongly feel that the wrong policies of the Narendra Modi government, like demonetisation and GST, had badly hit their business. There is also anti-incumbency factor against the Left-front government in Kerala due to issues in post-flood rehabilitation drives and reports of farmers’ suicides owing to debt.

While NDA candidate Thushar Vellapally reiterates that the fight in the constituency is between him and Rahul, CPI national secretary D Raja said that Thushar may not even get the minimum votes to save the money he deposited to contest the polls.

The constituency is also likely to be affected by some political undercurrents as many BJP-RSS workers are unhappy over the decision to field Thushar Vellapally. They feel that a senior BJP leader should have fought against Rahul. How they would express their disappointment on the voting day remains to be seen.