It seems all is well for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by him is set to create history and return to power. In a survey conducted by ABP News in collaboration with C-Voter, the incumbent chief minister looks far away from danger and is comfortably placed to return to his position.
With assembly elections due in April-May this year, the projection by C-Voter for 2021 suggests the LDF is leading the United Democratic Front (UDF) by seven per cent in the vote share. The LDF is expected to get 41.6 per cent of vote share in the upcoming assembly elections while the UDF is set to get 34.6 per cent.
The BJP, which received 14.9 per cent vote share in 2016, is recording an uptick, is expected to get 15.3 per cent vote share this time.
The other parties also seem prepared to improve their vote share as the projection for 2021 by C-Voter suggests they would be getting 8.5 per cent vote share as compared to 2.8 per cent vote share in 2016.
If the LDF manages to hold on to the current lead, as suggested by the survey, it is likely to beat the anti-incumbency cycle.
The LDF won 91 seats in the 140-member Kerala Assembly in 2016 while the UDF bagged 47 seats. The projection for 2021 suggests the LDF will emerge triumphant in 85 seats while the UDF will win 53 seats. BJP is slated to get one seat in the assembly elections as suggested by the survey.
If the BJP improves its tally as compared to the last elections, it will be a major loss for the LDF than the UDF due to commonality of Hindu vote bank. The LDF is a coalition of left-wing political parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) while the UDF is an alliance of centre-left political parties led by the Congress.
The BJP, however, is currently not pushing the envelope in Kerala either in terms of leadership or organisation unlike West Bengal or Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the survey also suggests that Chief Minister Vijayan (47%) is more than twice as popular as Congress leader Oommen Chandy (22%).
The tenure of the members of the 14th legislative assembly in Kerala will end on June 1.