New Delhi, Feb. 23 -- As Germany heads to polls on Sunday, and with conservative Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) being the frontrunner to succeed Olaf Scholz as chancellor, rural constituencies in the southeastern province of Bavaria could play a key role in determining the seriousness of the new government on the issue of immigration.

Merz has promised a 'much tougher stance' than the one Germany has been following in recent decades. Already, the 69-year-old has acknowledged that the "open border policies" of his one-time rival Angela Merkel, Scholz's predecessor and the previous chancellor from CDU, have proved to be 'disastrous.'

Opinion polls show the Merz-led CDU, along with its permanent Bavarian all...