The Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the CPI(M) in Kerala will complete seat sharing talks among its allies and will announce candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections within a week. The seat division of the coalition will be completed by March 4. The announcement of candidates, it's learnt, will follow the next day. The State Secretariat meeting of the CPI(M) to reportedly discuss the seat division was held at AKG Centre, the party state headquarters on Saturday.
Convener of the LDF, A Vijayaraghavan, who is also acting State Secretary of the CPI(M), told the media that the seat division will be completed soon. The state will go to the polls on April 6 and the counting will be held on May 2.
The prime contest is between the ruling LDF and the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress, while the BJP claims that it will make big gains in the elections. The CPI(M), the largest constituent of the LDF, had contested 92 seats in the 2016 Assembly elections.
According to reports, Kerala Congress(M) leader Jose K Mani will contest from Pala in Kottayam on an LDF ticket. Sitting legislator Mani C Kappan had quit the Nationalist Congress Party, an LDF constituent, over the coalition's alleged move to give the Pala seat to the Jose K Mani faction. Kappan joined the UDF.
The District Committee meetings of the CPI(M) will be held on March 1 and 2 for discussion on potential candidates. The State Secretariat will meet again on March 3 and 5, it's learnt, while the LDF seat division is likely to be announced on March 4. The polls were announced on Friday, following which the Model Code of (MCC) came into effect.
The last date for submitting a nomination is March 12. The scrutiny of nominations is on March 20 while the last date for withdrawing nominations is March 22. Bye-election for Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency too will be held on April 6.