Thiruvananthapuram: As the Lok Sabha elections draw closer, the Vadakara constituency is expected to witness a highly-charged electoral battle after the Congress decided to field Vattiyoorkavy MLA K Muraleedharan to take on P Jayarajan of the CPI (M) and with that, took the number of total sitting MLAs in the state to nine.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded six legislators while the number of Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) MLAs in the poll fray stands at three.
LDF, which has fielded the maximum number of legislators, gave the Kozhikode constituency to sitting MLA A Pradeep Kumar and has fielded M Ariff from Alappuzha.
On the other hand, CPI's Chittayam Gopakumar is contesting from Mavelikkara, while CPI (M)’s Veena George is fighting from Pathanamthitta. CPI (M) allotted the Ponnani seat to P V Anwar, whereas C Divakaran of CPI is contesting against Congress’ Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram.
Even though the Congress poll panel is yet to officially announce Muraleedharan’s name for Vadakara, the former Kerala Pradesh Congress committee president has already hit the campaign trail in the constituency which is presently represented by Kerala PCC President and former union minister Mullappally Ramachandran.
Along with Muraleedharan, Congress’ Hibi Eden, who was fielded in Ernakulam and Adoor Prakash of Attingal constituency, are the two other UDF MLAs in the fray.
CPI (M)’s list of 16 candidates has six sitting MPs and four sitting MLAs, including two women, PK Sreemathi, the sitting MP from Kannur and Veena George, the sitting MLA from Aranmula legislative assembly.
Some of the other sitting MP’s to have featured on LDF’s list include, Innocent (Chalakkudy constituency), Joice George (Idukki), M B Rajesh (Palakkad), P K Biju (Alathur) and A Sampath (Attingal).
The state of Kerala, where the nature of politics has largely been bipolar, could possibly witness a triangular electoral battle this time, with the BJP hopinh to make inroads to the southern state weighing on the Sabarimala showdown.
During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, CPI (M) had fielded MA Baby, the then MLA in Kollam and Mathew T Thomas in Kottayam, but both of them were defeated. The Congress-led UDF won 12 seats and CPI (M)-led LDF managed to secure eight in the polls.
Apart from Vadakara, Congress hasn’t made an announcement on its candidate for Wayanad, as the party leaders have requested Rahul Gandhi to contest from the constituency. The congress chief is yet to take a call on his candidature.
The Lok Sabha elections to the 20 parliamentary seats of Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 23.
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