THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s official. The upcoming Kerala assembly election will have 890 candidates in the fray, with 95 contestants opting out when the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Thursday. A total of 957 candidates had contested the 2021 assembly elections.
The UDF heaved a sigh of relief as its rebel candidates in Kuttanad and Karunagapally withdrew from the race. However, in Taliparamba, UDF rebel Koyyam Janardhanan refused to opt out.
Meanwhile, rebel trouble continues for the LDF in four seats — Ambalapuzha, Taliparamba, Payyannur and Ottapalam. SDPI has withdrawn its candidates in Mankada and Manjeshwar. It was widely perceived that the candidature of K M Ashraff in Manjeshwar could prove costly for the UDF.
In Kuttanad, UDF rebel Saji Joseph withdrew his nomination as an independent candidate and decided to support the front’s official nominee Reji Cheriyan of the Kerala Congress.
Boban G Nath, who had decided to contest against Congress’ C R Mahesh as a rebel in Karunagapally, also opted out. The UDF was able to quell rebel trouble in Punalur earlier. Jayaprakash Poovathingal, Congress rebel in Thrissur, too, backed out after the party leadership promised to address his grievances.
Polls: Koduvally leads with 13 candidates
The four rebels taking on the CPM are former minister G Sudhakaran, who is contesting from Ambalapuzha; former Kannur district secretariat member T K Govindan in Taliparamba; former Kannur district committee member V
Kunhikrishnan in Payyannur; and former MLA P K Sasi in Ottapalam. A number of prominent candidates including Kerala Congress (B)’s K B Ganesh Kumar, CPM’s C Raveendranath and Congress’ T N Prathapan are facing the threat of namesakes.
Koduvally has the highest number of candidates at 13. A total of 11 candidates are in the fray in three constituencies - Thiruvanathapuram, Peravoor and Manjeshwar.
Nemom, Changanassery, Kalamassery, Manalur, Perambra, Kozhikode North, Kalpetta and Taliparamba constituencies have 10 candidates each. There are six constituencies with the lowest number of candidates (three) — Chavara, Kayamkulam, Nattika, Kongad, Kozhikode South and Mananthavady.