CPI(M) to contest 84 seats in the Assembly polls

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 2: The CPI(M), heading the Left Democratic Front (LDF), today decided to contest eight more seats in the coming Assembly elections in Kerala taking the total to 84.

Talking to mediapersons after a meeting of the LDF here, Front Convenor Paloli Mohammad Kutty said, the Front will support independents in the remaining three seats for which a unanimous decision was taken at the meeting.

Following disputes over seat sharing with LDF partners, the front could arrive at a consensus only on 129 seats. It kept aside 11 seats to decide at a later date.

The CPI(M) candidates for eight seats are -- Mr James Mathew (Irikkur), Mr Mathai Chacko (Thiruvambadi), Mr V D Devassi (Chalakkudy), Mr C M Dinesh Mani (Palluruthy), Mr C V Varghese (Idukki), Mr P K Gurudasan (Kollam), Mr V J Thankappan (Neyyattinkara) and Ms G Rajamma (Mavelikkara).

The CPI(M)-backed independents are Mr P T A Rahim (Koduvally), Mr Cheriyan Philip (Kallooppara) and Mr K T Jaleel (Kuttippuram.

''Though there were some differeces on seat sharing between the Front partners, it was sorted out and the decision was unanimous,'' he added.

The CPI(M), which had contested 74 seats in the 2001 Assembly election, will contest 84 seats this time, most of them taken from minor LDF partners.However, the CPI succeeded in getting 24 seats it had contested in the last elections.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Kerala Congress (Joseph) and Janata Dal(S) were the main losers in the seat-sharing arrangement. The NCP, which was given 11 seats in the 2001 polls, had to be content with just two this time, while the KC(J) which had ten seats in the last polls was allotted only six. The Janata Dal(S), which had 12 seats got only eight and the Revolutionary Socialist Party was allotted four seats against six in the last election.

The Congress (S), which split from the NCP and the Kerala Congress (Secular), which split from the KC(J), were alloted one seat each.

Besides, the LDF also allotted three seats to the Indian National League which is contesting the elections as an ally of the LDF.

The CPI(M) took back the Irikkur and Kallooppara seats from the KC(J), Thiruvambadi, Palluruthy and Mavelikkara from the NCP, Chalakkudy, Idukki, Neyyattinkara and Koduvally from the JD(S) and Kollam and Kuttippuram from the RSP.

Mr K T Jaleel, expelled from the IUML, was pitted agaisnt Former Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty in Kuttippuram with LDF support.

Prominent CPI(M) leaders contesting the elections include Polit Bureau Member V S Achuthanandan, Central Committee Members Paloli Mohammed Kutty, M A Baby, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and P K Sreemathi, State Secretariat Member T M Thomas Isaac and CITU Leaders K N Ravindranath and M M Lawrence. Of the 84 candidates, nine are women.

UNI