With The Prospect Of A Tough Fight In Amethi, Rahul Gandhi Likely To Contest From Muslim-Dominated Wayanad Seat In Kerala 

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is almost certain to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.

Both Kerala Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran and former chief minister of Kerala Oomen Chandy have confirmed the development.

“Talks were on about this for almost a month. Initially, he (Rahul Gandhi) was not willing. After much persuasion, he agreed” Hindutsan Times quoted Mullapally as saying.

The Congress has already declared Rahul Gandhi as the party candidate from Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh. He is expected to face a formidable challenge from Union Minister and senior BJP Leader Gandhi Smriti Irani.

Congress central leadership has been claiming that party units in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are clamouring to field Rahul Gandhi from a constituency in their state.

While Congress has not yet officially announced its candidate for the Wayanad seat, it was expected to field a close aide of Oomen Chandy, T. Siddique. Siddique has even began his campaign pending official declaration.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election , Congress won the Wayanad seat with its candidate M I Shanavas defeating his CPI (Communist party of India) rival Sathyan Mokeri margin of over 20000 votes . Shanavas died November last year after a brief illness and seat has remained vacant since.

In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Shanavas had registered an even bigger win, defeating M Rahmatulla of the CPI by over 1.5 lakh votes.

Left Democratic Front (LDF) has already declared its candidate for Wayanad. CPI state committee member P.P. Suneer, who hails from Malappuram, was picked as the candidate as he was seen as someone with the ability to garner Muslim votes.

Wayanad constituency is spread across three districts of Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhikode and comprises seven Assembly segments - Mananthavadi, Kalpetta, Sulthan Bathery, Thiruvambady, Nilambur, Wandoor and Eranad. Among them, four seats are with the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and three are with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) .

Almost 57.98% of voters in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency are Muslims. Only Malappuram (68.53%) and Ponnani (64%) have a greater share of Muslim voters in Kerala. Both Malappuram and Ponnani are regarded as impregnable bastions of the Indian Union Muslim League, which is an ally of the UDF.

In 2018, speculation was rife that the League will stake its claim to Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections given that it is a constituency with a large Muslim population.