CPI(M) Announces Candidates For 15 Lok Sabha Seats In Kerala, KK Shailaja, Thomas Isaac Among Those Contesting

The Marxist party has decided to field four sitting MLAs and two sitting MPs, one from Lok Sabha and another from Rajya Sabha, as part of its bid to wrest a significant number of seats.

The CPI(M), the main party in the ruling Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, announced candidates for 15 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Tuesday, including former state ministers KK Shailaja and TM Thomas Isaac.

The Marxist party has decided to field four sitting MLAs and two sitting MPs, one from Lok Sabha and another from Rajya Sabha, as part of its bid to wrest a significant number of seats from the Congress-led UDF, PTI reported.

The CPI(M)-led Left front had won just one seat in the 2019 general elections. The CPI(M)'s coalition partners in the LDF- the CPI and the Kerala Congress (M) had previously announced their candidates. 

With the announcement by the CPI(M), all 20 LDF candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in the southern state have been declared.

In a notable move, the Left party nominated four of its sitting MLAs, including Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan, to contest in key constituencies.

In the upcoming elections, both political heavyweights Thomas Isaac and Shailaja will contest from Pathanamthitta and Vadakara seats respectively.

Actor-turned MLA M Mukesh has been nominated from the Kollam seat, currently held by RSP leader N K Premachandran, while V Joy MLA will vie for the Attingal seat.

Sitting MP AM Arif will seek re-election from the Alappuzha seat, while trade union leader and Rajya Sabha member Elamaram Kareem will enter the electoral fray from Kozhikode.

Other candidates announced include former MP Joyce George for Idukki, KJ Shine for Ernakulam, former minister C Raveendranath for Chalakudy, CPI(M) politburo member A Vijayaraghavan for Palakkad, DYFI leader V Vaseef for Malappuram, K S Hamsa for Ponnani, the party's Kannur district secretary M V Jayarajan for Kannur, and senior leader M V Balakrishnan for Kasaragod.

Announcing the list of candidates during a press conference held here, party state secretary M V Govindan said the upcoming general election is crucial for the country as "keeping the BJP out of power was the main agenda of secular democratic forces."

Although the CPI(M) is part of the INDIA bloc along with the Congress, the Left party's state secretary did not hold back when he claimed that no one in Kerala believed that Rahul Gandhi would become the next prime minister.