Lok Sabha polls: Kerala BJP Chief K Surendran casts vote in Kozhikode

Kozhikode: Bharatiya Janata Party Kerala President K Surendran cast his vote in Kozhikode during the second phase polling for Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
Surendran is also the BJP candidate from the Wayanad constituency against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Voting is underway for all 20 seats in Kerala in the second phase of the general elections.
Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala is set to witness a tough contest between INDIA bloc allies. The Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI), which are part of the opposition's INDIA bloc are now rivals in Kerala for the key Wayanad seat.
The CPI has fielded its senior leader, Annie Raja against BJP and Congress from Wayanad.
K Surendran is a prominent leader from north Kerala who became the BJP state president in 2020. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Pathanamthitta constituency in 2019 and secured the third position.
Earlier, speaking to ANI, Surendran said, "You can see the energy of people in this election campaign. The people of Wayanad want to say goodbye to Rahul Gandhi and welcome PM Modi. This is the slogan of Wayanad. I expect BJP to win 10 out of 20 seats in Kerala."
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi who is the current sitting MP of Wayanad, won the elections securing 7,06,367 votes, while LDF candidate PP Suneer secured 2,74,597 votes and BDJ (S) leader Tushar Vellapally got 78,816 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 19 out of 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
While the Congress won 15 seats, its allies Indian Union Muslim League, won two seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party won one, and the Kerala Congress (M) won one seat. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won only one seat.
The second phase has 88 Lok Sabha constituencies, including all 20 seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, six in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Tripura, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir.
The first phase of voting for the seven-phased Lok Sabha election, the world's largest electoral exercise, was held on April 19 in 102 constituencies across 21 states and UTs. According to the Election Commission, the voter turnout registered was over 62 per cent. The third phase election will be held on May 7.