The Congress party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is likely to contest from about a hundred seats in the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections on April 6. The opposition front lost one of their allies to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) when Jose K Mani's faction of Kerala Congress (M) split ways in 2020. However, Pala Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mani C Kappen joined the front in February, floating a new party called the Nationalist Congress Kerala, after he quit the LDF.
Apart from the sitting MLAs and former ministers, there are a number of new names in the probable list of candidates of the UDF. This includes bureaucrats, a former judge, journalists and actors, among others.
Biju Prabhakar, who was part of Minister KK Shailaja's Social Justice Department, is now heading the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and is a likely candidate of the UDF, says a New Indian Express report. His father, late Thachadi Prabhakaran, was a Congress Minister.
Jiji Thomson, former Chief Secretary of the state, and Venu Rajamani, former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, are other bureaucrats likely to join the fray.
Edavela Babu, Dharmajan and Ramesh Pisharody joined the Congress party quite recently. While Ramesh Pisharody, a comedian and actor, made it clear that he will not be contesting this time, Edavela Babu's name is floating among the probable list of candidates for the UDF.
Manorama News anchor Nisha Purushothaman is one of the foremost names figuring in the likely list of candidates to enter politics through the UDF. Another woman, who is active on social media and likely to contest is Dr Shama Mohamed, a dentist who has been a national spokesperson of the Congress party. Former High Court justice Kemal Pasha said as early as January that he was ready to contest elections if the Congress party gave him the seat in Kalamassery.