With seat sharing and candidacy discussions underway for the upcoming Assembly elections in Kerala, the Kollam District Secretariat of the ruling CPI(M) has reportedly favored fielding actor Mukesh again. Mukesh is the sitting MLA of the Kollam constituency. The District Secretariat meetings of the CPI(M) began on Monday and have been progressing on Tuesday to discuss potential candidates. The final decision will be taken by the state leadership though.
Sitting MLA M Nuashad's name has also been suggested to be fielded from the same constituency, Eravipuram, in the district.
According to reports, the District Committee is in favour of giving one more term for MLAs J Mercykutty Amma and Aisha Potty. Mercykutty Amma who is the state Fisheries Minister represents Kundara constituency in the district. Aisha Potty is the MLA of Kottarakkara.
This is the third term of Mercykutty Amma as MLA. The 65- year-old's maiden victory was in 1987, while she was elected for the second time in 1996. Aisha Potty won the elections three times consecutively since 2006. As per party rules, those who contested and won Assembly elections consecutively twice won't be given a party ticket to contest again. However, an exemption was made for her in the 2016 elections as the CPI(M)’s priority was to retain the seat.
On Monday, the Alappuzha District Secretariat reportedly sought an exemption for ministers Thomas Isaac and G Sudhakaran. Both of them consecutively won in the 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections.
Television anchor turned politician Veena George is likely to be picked to contest from Aranmula while Janeesh Kumar will be fielded again from Konni in Pathanamthitta district, according to reports. Both are sitting MLAs of the constituencies.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) heads the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the state. LDF has 91 seats in the 140 member assembly. It's expected that the seat division in the LDF will be finalised by March 4 while the announcement of candidates will follow soon.
Meanwhile, seat division discussions are ongoing in the Congress headed United Democratic Front (UDF) as well. The Kerala Assembly polls will be held on April 6 while the counting of votes and results will be announced on May 2.