Pathanamthitta: ManoramaNews-VMR exit poll has predicted the BJP would make a significant advance in Pathanamthitta even though it may not win the seat. As per the survey, UDF is expected to retain the constituency.
It is predicted that the candidature of Anil Antony, the son of former state chief minister and veteran Congress leader AK Antony, a candidate has given the NDA a bigger boost than what BJP expected. CPM central committee member and former state finance minister TM Thomas Isaac will be relegated to the third position, the survey showed.
UDF's Anto Antony, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term in the Lok Sabha, got 36.53 per cent votes in the exit poll. Anil Antony, who debuted in the election battle, received 32.17 per cent votes. Former finance minister and senior CPM leader Thomas Isaac got only 27.7 per cent votes. The vote difference between UDF and BJP was 4.36 per cent, as per the exit poll.
In the 2019 elections, Anto Antony completed a hat-trick of wins in the Lok Sabha election by defeating the current state Health Minister Veena George by a margin of 44,243 votes. Anto Antony got 3,80,927 votes, Veena got 3,36,684 votes and BJP state president K Surendran got 2,97,396 votes. UDF's vote share was 37 per cent, while LDF's was 32.77 per cent and BJP got 28.95 per cent votes.
The survey predicts that there won't be any change in the trend of Anto Antony seeing a decrease in vote share in each election. Anto, who debuted in the Lok Sabha by defeating CPM's K Anantha Gopan by 1,11,206 votes in 2009, defeated LDF independent Philippos Thomas by 56,191 votes.
