Kanam Rajendran, State president of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), was on Monday "unanimously" elected as Kerala's CPI secretary at the end of the five-day State conference of the party held in Kottayam. Though party national executive member KE Ismail had staked claim to the post, he withdrew from the race in the last minute as per the central leadership's instruction to avoid a contest which would have required voting for the first time in the history of the party in the State. Rajendran's name was proposed for the position of the State secretary by the central leadership and outgoing secretary Pannyan Raveendran supported the proposal.