Kottayam: Despite shifting loyalties of the Kerala Congress (Mani) group, the Kottayam Lok Sabha seat in central Travancore region of Kerala has vouched for the United Democratic Front (UDF), the ManoramaNews-VMR exit polls revealed.

Though a vote slight vote share dip is likely, the KC (J) candidate Francis George is likely to win in Kottayam as the shift toward the LDF camp has adversely affected the KC (M)’s fortunes.

Francis George is set to trump sitting MP Thomas Chazhikadan getting 7.9 per cent more votes, with the former 41.33 per cent of all votes polled. Thomas Chazhikkadan gets 33.43 votes, and the NDA candidate Thushar Vellapally of the BDJS gets 20.2 per cent votes.

An interesting point is that both the major political fronts in the state will lose their vote share in the seat.
The NDA will be the sole gainer, bagging 2.99 per cent more votes than in 2019.

In 2019, as part of the UDF, Thomas Chazhikadan trounced Minister V N Vasavan of the CPM by a margin of 1,06,259 votes. Chazhikadan got 4,21,046 votes or 46.24 per cent, and Vasavan got 3,14,787 votes or 34.57 per cent.
NDA candidate P C Thoma got 1,55,135 votes or 17.04 per cent of the total votes polled.