Wayanad, April 3: Communist Party of India candidate from Wayanad, Annie Raja on Wednesday filed her nomination for Lok Sabha elections and hit out at the incumbent MP from the constituency stating people are disappointed with the performance of sitting MP.

She will face the Congress party's sitting MP and candidate Rahul Gandhi here.

"I am not here to examine whether Rahul Gandhi is afraid or UDF is afraid. I am here as a Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate to go to the people and understand what they expect from me. We have been doing this for more than a month. In my interaction with people, what I understand is that people are disappointed because they are going through a very difficult situation because of the human-animal conflict or night travel curfew - whatever may be...They are very disappointed with the performance of the sitting MP..." said CPI candidate Annie Raja.

"With the interaction with the people, I understand that he has taken the people for granted..." She said further.

Congress leader and incumbent MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday submitted his nomination papers for the Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala for the Lok Sabha elections, starting from April 19 in seven phases across the country.

The CPI is a partner of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala.

While the CPI and the Congress are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc, the two parties are fierce contenders in Kerala with both parties pitting their strongest candidates against each other.

The BJP which is leaving no stone unturned to establish its complete dominance in the 2024 elections, has fielded Kerala State

President K Surendran as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from the constituency.

Kerala, one of the few states where the Congress still has a strong presence, sends 20 parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi won from Wayanad with a huge margin of over 4.31 lakh votes; the highest margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala. He secured 64.94 per cent vote share defeating LDF candidate PP Suneer. The NDA had fielded BDJ(S) leader Tushar Vellapally who secured just around 78,000 votes which accounted for a mere 7.25 per cent.

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 one seat in Alappuzha.
Voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the South Indian state across all 20 seats is scheduled for April 26, while the counting of votes will take place on June 4. (ANI)

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