CPI, CPI (M) steal a march by announcing list of candidates
By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing April 9 as the date for the 2026 Assembly election, the stage has been set for a bruising, no-holds-barred battle of ballots in Kerala.
With less than a month left for the election, political parties will have to get into top gear right away. It is a tight campaign schedule for the parties.
The gazette notification will be issued on March 16. March 23 is the last date for filing nominations. The scrutiny of nominations will be on March 24, and March 26 is the deadline for withdrawing the nominations. Counting will be held on May 4,
The latest data released by the ECI shows that Kerala has 2.7 crore voters, of whom 1,571 are centenarians. Of the total voters, 1.38 crore are women, 1.31 crore are men and 277 transgender voters.
Kerala will have 30,471 polling stations, with 6,130 in the urban areas and 24,341 in the rural areas. The EC has limited the number of voters per booth to 1,200 to avoid crowding.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has had a headstart with the CPI and the CPI(M) announcing their list of candidates. In fact, the credit for coming out first with the list goes to the CPI, which announced its list of candidates on Saturday. The CPI(M) list saw the light of the day minutes after the ECI announced the dates. By doing so, both the major partners of the LDF have stolen a march over their arch rivals, the Congress-led United Democratic Front(UDF) and the BJP-headed National Democratic Alliance(NDA).
In its efforts to secure an unprecedented third consecutive term in power, the CPI(M) has fielded 56 sitting MLAs and most of the ministers. By deciding to field majority of the incumbent MLAs, the CPI(M) is seeking to counter the Opposition’s propaganda of anti-incumbency. In a few districts such as Thiruvananthapuram, all the incumbent CPI(M) MLAs are in the fray. Out of the 86 seats the party is contesting, 75 will have the party’s own candidates. The party will back as many as 11 Independents.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will contest from the Dharmadam constituency in Kannur district. Among the ministers who are in the fray are V. Sivankutty (Nemom), Veena George (Aranmula), K. N. Balagopal (Kottarakkara), P. Rajeeve (Kalamassery), M. B. Rajesh (Thrithala), P. A. Mohammed Riyas (Beypore), V. N. Vasavan (Kottayam), Saji Cherian (Chenganur) and O. R. Kelu (Mananthavady).
Also in the field are former ministers K. K. Shylaja, C. N. Raveendranath, A. C. Moideen, Kadakampally Surendran and CPI(M)-backed Independents K. T. Jaleel and V. Abdul Rahman.
The list of those who are not contesting this time includes Speaker A. N. Shamseer, CPI(M) state secretary M. V. Govindan, State secretariat member M. Swaraj and former minister M. M. Mani.
The CPI(M) has fielded 10 women candidates including P. K. Shyamala, Pushpa Das, K. Shanthakumari, M. B. Shiny, U. Prathibha, Daleema Jojo, and O. S. Ambika. The names of five more Independent candidates for Palakkad, Koduvally, kondotty, Tirur and Kottakkal will be announced soon.
The CPI(M) state secretary has expressed the confidence that the people of Kerala will reward the LDF for its welfare and development initiatives besides translating into reality major projects such as the National Highway development and the GAIL pipeline project.
The CP:I has renominated all four of its incumbent ministers, K. Rajan (Ollur), P. Prasad (Cherthala), J. Chinchurani (Chadayamangalam) and G. R. Anil (Nedumangad).
CPI State secretary Binoy Viswom, who announced the candidates, said the party has finalized candidates for 25 constituencies it would contest as part of the LDF.
The list includes five women and an Independent.
The party has fielded E. T. Taison, the incumbent MLA in the Kaipamangalam constituency, in the Paravoor constituency from where sitting MLA and the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) is expected to contest.
Viswom voiced optimism that the LDF would romp home the winner against both the UDF and the BJP, which have an unholy nexus. They may appear as separate entities. But when it comes to confronting the LDF, they often function together, said Viswom.
As for the opposition UDF, seat finalization continues to pose big problems as usual. The finalization process has run into rough weather with senior Congress leader and former KPCC chief K. Sudhakaran raising the banner of revolt. The Kannur MP wants to contest, but the Congress High Command has decided against allowing MPs to contest the Assembly elections. Sudhakaran has so far remained unmollified. The High Command has summoned him to Delhi for talks. The Congress is not in a position to antagonise him as Sudhakaran is a force to reckon with in Kannur district. Failure to address his concerns will have am adverse impact on Congress chances in the district.
So far, the Congress has submitted a list of only 50 candidates. Allies like the Indian Union Muslim League(IUML) are unhappy with the Congress for delaying finalization of the list. The IUML, incidentally, has demanded more seats, including a few in central Kerala, in an attempt to expand its political base. Another ally, Kerala Congress(Joseph) is also insisting on getting more seats. So far, the Congress has not obliged KC(J).
As for the BJP, the party is hopeful of improving its performance this time. The party is focusing on winning 15 seats. Its calculation is that if it can bag a decent number of seats, it would prove the king-maker! Its confidence is based on the party winning a Lok Sabha seat (Thrissur) from Kerala in 2024 and its good show in the recent election to the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had come first in 11 Assembly constituencies and emerged second in 9 seats. This time the BJP is concentrating on 34 seats. But the situation has undergone a sea-change with the party performing below par in the local bodies elections in the State. The RSS thinks that a determined campaign could see the BJP emerging victorious in 8-10 constituencies. (IPA Service)
