The Communist Party of India (Marxist) which is also the major constituent party in the LDF, on Saturday announced their 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections. Out of the 16 names, 6 of them are sitting MP’s and 2 of them will be contesting independently. The candidates were announced during a press meet by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the State Secretary of the CPI(M). .
MB Rajesh, who is a current MP from Palakkad will yet again contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Palakkad constituency. The two time MB is known to be a vocal voice of the Left in the parliament.
In Attingal, Dr Anirudhan Sampath who is the sitting MP of the constituency got the ticket to contest for the 2019 election. A member of the CPI(M), Dr Sampath, in 2014, was elected for the third time as MP from Attingal.
In Kollam, KN Balagopal belonging to the CPI(M) has been selected to contest from the constituency. Balagopal was elected as a Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala back in 2010. He has previously served as the CPI(M) district secretary of Kollam.
PK Sreemathi, who is also a sitting MP, will be contesting from Kannur. In 2006, she was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from the Payyanur assembly constituency. PK Sreemathy was also the Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the state from 2006 to 2011.
Former Rajya Sabha MP P Rajeev has been selected to contest from Ernakulam for the Lok Sabha 2019 polls. Rajeev serves as one of the secretariat members of the CPI(M) Kerala State Committee.
Aranmula MLA Veena George bagged the ticket to contest for the Lok Sabha from the Pathanamthitta constituency. A member of the CPI(M) and the sitting MLA of Aranmula, Veena has been in the news recently for getting a detractor arrested over a critical Facebook post.
The other candidates who will be contesting for the CPI(M) are KP Satheesh Chandran from Kasargod, P Jayarajan from Vadakara, A Pradeep Kumar from Kozhikode, VP Sanu from Malapuram, Dr PK Biju from Alathur, P Rajeev from Ernakulam, VN Vasavan from Kottayam and Advocate AM Arif from Alappuzha.
Backed by CPI (M), PV Anwar will be independently contesting from the Ponnani constituency. Anwar is the current MLA of Nilambur in Kerala. The other candidate who is contesting independently is Idukki’s Joice George, who is also backed by the CPI(M). Joyce is also a sitting MP.