Thrissur: The Manorama News-VMR exit poll has predicted a comfortable win for UDF's K Muraleedharan. Despite a high-decibel campaign that got national attention, NDA's Suresh Gopi is predicted to finish third behind LDF's Sunil Kumar.
As per the survey, Muraleedharan, who shifted from Vadakara to Thrissur, will secure the victory over former state minister Sunil Kumar, though he had an upper hand during the final phase of the campaign.
The exit poll showed that 37.53 per cent of those who participated in the exit poll voted for the UDF, while 30.72 per cent of people stood with CPI's Sunil Kumar; and 29.55 per cent of people voted for Suresh Gopi. While the difference in votes between UDF and LDF is 6.81 per cent, the difference between LDF and BJP is a mere 1.17 per cent.
While the UDF's vote share is predicted to decrease by 2.3 per cent, the LDF will see a decline of 0.12 per cent. Despite the third-place finish, the NDA could record an increase of 1.36 per cent. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, UDF's vote share was 39.83 per cent. While LDF got 30.85 per cent and Suresh Gopi polled 28.19 per cent votes.
In 2019, TN Prathapan of the Congress was elected with a mammoth majority of 93,633 votes. Although the Congress had decided to field Prathapan this time, the party changed its decision with the shift in Muraleedharan's constituency.