Will Rahul Gandhi retain Wayanad in three-cornered fight with CPI's Annie Raja and BJP's K Surendran in Phase 2?

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Rahul Gandhi is contesting Lok Sabha Elections against Annie Raja, a leader from the Communist Party of India (CPI), which is a key partner in the opposition INDIA bloc. With Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Kerala state President K Surendran in the fray, the contest in the seat has become triangular. Wayanad will vote, along 19 other seats of Kerala, in the second phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on Friday, April 26.

Rahul Gandhi won the Wayanad seat by 431,000 votes – the highest margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls across Kerala. Rahul got 706,367 votes, as against 274,597 votes polled by LDF candidate PP Suneer. The BJP-led NDA had fielded BDJ (S) leader Tushar Vellapally, who secured 78,800 votes, about 7.25 per cent of the total votes polled.

Also Read: Lok Sabha elections 2024 phase 2 voting on April 26: Key candidates, full list of all constituencies going to polls The contest also assumes significance amid uncertainty about whether Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi, his earlier seat in Uttar Pradesh, which he lost in 2019 to Union Minister Smriti Irani. The Congress, which is contesting elections in UP in alliance with the SP, the INDIA bloc partner, is yet to announce candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli seats. Rahul’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, who won the Rae Bareli seat in 2019, is now a Rajya Sabha member.

The contest in 2024 has become high-stakes due to PM Modi and BJP’s efforts to make inroads in the south, including Kerala. The BJP candidate, K Surendran is a prominent leader from north Kerala who became the saffron party's state president in 2020. In 2019, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Pathanamthitta seat but ended up third in the race.