Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 22 (IANS): The three main political outfits Congress, Left and BJP in Kerala are claiming to win big in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the coastal state.

Kerala, also known as ‘God’s Own Country’, will go to polls on April 26 to elect 20 Lok Sabha members.

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri, who is presently camping in the state, said that they expect to repeat the 2004 party’s performance when they won a record 18 seats out of 20.

“I am telling you this after I witnessed people’s response in the state,” Yechuri said.

He also dismissed PM Modi’s statement that BJP-led NDA will win seats in Kerala. “He (PM Modi) can live with that,” Yechuri said.

Congress-led UDF, which won 19 out of 20 seats in the 2019 general elections, has also claimed to repeat their performance in the state. “There is no doubt that Kerala’s electoral outcome will come in favour of UDF and against PM Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,” State Congress President K.Sudhakaran said.

He said that people in Kerala know that the Prime Minister and Chief Minister are hand-in-glove.

Meanwhile, the BJP is hoping against hope to win seats in the state. The party expects to at least win Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur seats.

In the 2019 general elections, barring Thiruvananthapuram, the BJP finished a distant third in the remaining 19 constituencies.

In the 2019 general elections, the Congress-led UDF won 47.48 per cent of the total votes and 19 seats, the CPI-M-led Left secured 36.29 per cent votes and just one seat while the BJP-led NDA only got 15.64 per cent votes.