Kerala candidates begin filing election nominations
TRIVANDRUM: Nominations for candidates for 20 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament, from Kerala officially opened on Thursday.
At least a dozen candidates, including legislator and film star M Mukesh, filed their nominations on the first day.
The southern state goes to the polls on April 26 in the second phase of the staggered elections that culminate with the counting on June 04.
Mukesh, 67, who represents the Kollam segment in the state assembly, is the candidate of the ruling Let Democratic Front, fielded by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
In 2019, the CPI (M)-led LDF won just one seat while the opposition Congress party-led United Democratic Front swept the rest, polling 12 per cent more votes.
Pollsters predict a similar outcome this time also while the traditional Kerala rivals are partners in the combined opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
The popular actor and two-time legislator is taking on Revolutionary Socialist Party leader NK Premachandran, 64, a two-time MP, fielded by the UDF.
The RSP leader won the seat in 2014 by defeating former education minister MA Baby, a member of the CPI (M)’s highest decision-making body, the politburo, by 37,649 votes.
He improved his victory margin to 148,869 last time when the CPI (M) fielded KN Balagopal, currently the state’s finance minister, against him last time. This time, the ruling party, which won all but one of the seven assembly segments of the parliamentary constituency, banks on Mukesh’s celebrity status to wrest the seat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the National Democratic Alliance, has fielded newsreader-turned-film star G Krishna Kumar, 55.
The Hindu nationalist party ended up a distant third in the last two elections, with just 6.67 per cent votes in 2014 and 10.67 per cent votes in 2019.
NDA’S ML Ashwini, fielded by the BJP in the northern constituency of Kasaragod bordering Karnataka, is another prominent candidate who filed her papers Thursday.
In 2019, Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan wrested the seat from the CPI (M) by a margin of 40,438 votes, while the BJP finished third with 16.13 per cent of the votes.
The LDF has fielded four legislators, including Mukesh, while the UDF has one, Shafi Parambil, whose main challenger is KK Shailaja, a siting member of the state assembly.
Templeaffairsministerkradhakrishnan(alathur) and V Joy (Atingal), both LDF candidates fielded by the CPI (M), are other legislators in the fray.