75 to 27: CPM’s Kerala candidate list mix of 4 generations

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM on Wednesday announced 83 candidates for the Kerala assembly election without much change from the list approved by the state secretariat.
The party did not yield to demands to change candidates in Ponnani and Kuttiyadi, which witnessed protests and even resignations, but has agreed to reconsider the candidature of K R Jayananda in Manjeswaram.
The candidate in Devikulam is also left to be announced. Once CPM decides candidates for Manjeswaram and Devikulam, it will have a total of 85, including nine party-backed Independents. Kerala assembly has 140 seats and the rest 55 will be contested by allies. Wednesday’s list is a mix of four generations, from 75-year-old CM Pinarayi Vijayan to 27-year-old SFI member Sachin Dev.


There are 12 candidates aged below 40, while an equal number of women are included in the list. The party had fielded the same number of women in the 2016 election. Vijayan will contest in Dharmadam again while seven ministers — KK Shailaja (Mattannur), TP Ramakrishnan (Perambra), MM Mani (Udumbanchola), Kadakkampally Surendran (Kazhakkootam), Mercykutty Amma (Kundara), AC Moideen (Kunnamkulam) and KT Jaleel (Thavanur) — are among the candidates.

“We have given space to both youth and women. Eight state secretariat members of the party, including Vijayan, are in the fray. There are four candidates aged below 30 in the list. There are eight in the 30-40 age group as well,” party state secretary A Vijayaraghavan said while announcing the candidates. As many as 33 MLAs are not in the fray this time. These include assembly speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and five ministers — EP Jayarajan, TM Thomas Isaac, G Sudhakaran, AK Balan and C Raveendranath