Several Ministers in the Congress-led UDF Government, frontline leaders of the CPI(M)-led lDF like Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan and CPI(M) Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan and several other leading aspirants filed their nominations on Monday for candidature in the Kerala Assembly elections to be held on May 16.
Pinarayi, contesting from his home constituency, Dharmadom in Kannur district, filed the papers after arriving at the district collectorate at the head of a demonstration. Eight other left candidates, including central committee member EP Jayarajan and TV Rajesh, also filed their papers. Pinarayi is considered by many as the left’s Chief Minister candidate.
Achuthanandan, 93, lDF candidate in Malampuzha where he is contesting for the fourth time, filed his papers at the district collectorate in Palakkad. Scores of supporters had accompanied him on the occasion to the collectorate. The nonagenarian Marxist is also the most popular campaigner of the Kerala left.
Among the Ministers who filed nominations on Monday were PK Jayalakshmi of the Congress, Shibu Baby John of the RSP and MK Muneer and PK Abdu Rabb of the Muslim league. Former Minister S Sarma, former RS member TN Seema, sitting MlA V Sivankutty, all CPI(M), Francis George, Antony Raju, both from left ally Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, and Congress’s PT Thomas were among the leaders who filed papers on Monday. Senior BJP leader PS Sreedharan Pillai, party candidate in Chengannur, also filed nomination on the day.