Sitting MP Adoor Prakash of the Congress is facing an uphill task in the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency, predicts Manorama News-VMR Mood of the State survey.

The presence of Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan in the fray has made the result unpredictable in Attingal in the Thiruvananthapuram district. The survey results showed that UDF and LDF will have a neck-and-neck race in Attingal.

A prediction has been made difficult by a minor erosion of votes from both LDF and UDF and with the NDA likely to better its performance.

As many as 35 per cent of people who participated in the Manorama News-VMR pre-poll survey supported the UDF and V Joy of the LDF. The NDA has the support of 28 per cent of the participants.

The survey predicted an increase of 2.95 per cent in BJP votes. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won 2,48,081 votes — or 24.69 per cent of the votes polled. Even if the party increases its vote share, it will have to adopt fresh strategies to win or end up in second place.

The contest has become prestigious for the CPM since its district secretary is in the fray. Besides, it has not forgotten the defeat it faced in 2019.

Prakash, too, is in top gear. The BJP has brought in central ministers and national leaders to campaign for Muraleedharan.

Interestingly, the survey predicted a slide in the votes of others and independent candidates. While they collectively claimed 3.42 per cent of votes in 2019, the survey said they would see the votes decreasing to 1.6 per cent. The votes other parties and independents lose will decide the winner in Attingal.

Prakash, a five-time MLA and two-time minister defeated sitting MP A Sampath of the CPM to wrest the seat for the UDF in 2019. The constituency witnessed a tight triangular contest in the previous polls with Shoba Surendran of the BJP challenging both Fronts. Ultimately, Prakash won by a margin of 38,247 votes.

The Manorama News-VMR pre-poll survey covered 28,000 people across all the Assembly segments in March. The survey looked at the possible results if the polling was then conducted. The Manorama News-VMR pre-poll survey, "Who will win in 20 seats" is the largest in terms of sample size.