Close contest likely as Kerala goes to poll today.

Thiruvananthapuram: As Kerala goes to the polls in the first phase of India's Lok Sabha election today it appears to be a close call between the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front and the ruling Left Democratic Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM).

That the LDF has run the UDF close during the campaign exercise is considered a compliment for the ruling front, given that it was expected to take fair far worse because of issues like the lacklustre performance of the V.S. Achuthanandan ministry, the tussle between the CPM and the CPI, the SNC Lavalin issue that has embroiled CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, and the clash between the CPM and the Janata Dal (S).

However, the UDF, which was considered to have a clear edge going into campaign, had its own set of problems including the debate over its choice of candidates and its decision to stick to the old guns in the party.

However, predictions are still favouring the UDF to win a majority of the 20 seats from the state though no survey predicts a landslide win like that of the LDF in 2004 when it bagged 18 seats.

The Left's woes this time began after the CPM and the CPI locked horns over the Ponnani seat. The seat finally went to CPM-backed independent Hussain Randathani, but it also led to bad blood in the LDF, with the CPI criticising the CPM as never before.

The Revolutionary Socialist Party was also left grumbling when it did not get any seat, but it was the tiff between the CPM and the Janata Dal (S) that really hurt the front's poll prospects. Ever since the Kozhikode seat was denied to the JD(S), the party's state president M.P. Veerendrakumar, who was the sitting MP there, and Vijayan have been openly attacking each other.

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