The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will contest the Kerala assembly elections on 85 seats.
CPI acting secretary of state A. Vijayaraghavan announced the contestants for 83 constituencies. These included nine CPI-M independents. The party will declare contenders for the Manjeswaram and Devikulam assembly constituencies.
Notably, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health Minister KK Shilaja, Excise Minister TP Ramakrishnan, Power Minister MM Mani and Devasom Board Minister Kadakampally Surendran are in the fray.
Former Chairman K. Radhakrishnan, MV Govindan, p. Rajeev and KN Balagopal, all CPI (M) secretariat members, are contesting the elections to be held on 6 April.
Thirty-three MLAs, including five ministers, will not contest.
Distinguished by his absence in the CPI (M) list was Speaker P.W. Sriramakrishnan, Industries Minister EP Jayarajan, Finance Minister Thomas Issac, PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran, Law Minister AK Balan and Education Minister C.C. Rabindranath is.
Mr. Vijayaraghavan said that the party has not excluded anyone, adding that it considers parliamentary work and organizational duties equally important. He said that government responsibility was neither the sole criterion of the party’s work nor the sole measure of political commitment.
He said that organizational responsibilities were the most important in the CPI-M.
The CPI-M state committee had twice decided to expel members contesting the assembly elections. It set a field of mix of youth, experienced workers and people with professional expertise to create opportunities for new faces.
Mr. Vijayaraghavan said that the CPI (M) leadership had not finalized the list of candidates in isolation. He said that unlike the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, no power center took any decision for the party.
Talking about the selection process, Mr. Vijayaraghavan said that the CPI (M) state committee has decided the blueprint for the selection of the candidate. The district committees discussed the pattern set by the party for the candidate selection process. Subsequently, the district secretariat sent its suggestions to the CPI (M) state committee, including a panel of potential contestants, he said.
The party center then weighed the suggestions and sent the list back to the district committees with appropriate amendments. The Legislative Assembly committees weighed in with their opinion. Mr. Vijayaraghavan said that the State Secretariat and the Politburo took the final decision after considering the recommendations of the lower committees.
In some places, provincial sentiment had prompted some party activists to publicly express their opinions. However, with the CPI-M candidate finalizing the list, it is expected that every worker will rally under the party’s flag.
The list includes 42 candidates with college degrees, 28 enrolled lawyers, 14 postgraduates, two doctoral holders, two doctors and an architect. Of the 83 names, 12 are women and four are under 30 years of age.
SFI national president VP Sanu will contest the Lok Sabha by-election on a CPI-M ticket from Malappuram.
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