THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Keeping winnability in mind, the CPM has formulated strict norms for candidate selection for the assembly elections. Attempting to reach out to the new generation, the party has decided to field more freshers, including youngsters and women, in the upcoming polls. Those who had contested to the Lok Sabha will not be fielded in the assembly elections.
The party has already decided not to field those who had contested consecutively and won twice. However, depending on prospects, exemptions would be provided to senior leaders. The state secretariat will decide on exemptions on a case-to-case basis. The secretariat will meet again on February 10 and consider suggestions from district committees in that regard. Six ministers — Thomas Isaac, E P Jayarajan, A K Balan, G Sudhakaran, C Raveendranath and K T Jaleel, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and more than 10 MLAs would not be able to contest if the two-time tenure is followed strictly.
Vijayaraghavan may replace VS in Malampuzha
Veteran leader V S Achuthanandan will not be contesting with party secretary in-charge A Vijayaraghavan likely to replace him at Malampuzha. On the other hand, a slew of senior leaders including S Sharma, Raju Abraham, Aisha Potti could be denied another chance. In the case of Sreeramakrishnan, future developments in the gold smuggling case, including whether he will be questioned by the investigation agencies, would prove crucial.
The party state committee, which met here on Wednesday, decided that requisite exemptions could be made for prominent leaders. Exemptions would be subject to certain conditions including how essential it is to retain a particular constituency.Similar exemptions would be made in the criterion relating to those who had contested in the Lok Sabha elections.
A few leaders like P Jayarajan, M B Rajesh and K N Balagopal may get exemption. “In general, no exemption will be given. In rare cases, depending on the winning probability and nature of constituency, a few leaders could be given exemptions. No decision has been taken about whether all ministers should contest. There’s a decision taken not to field those who contested and lost in the 2019 LS polls,” said a leader.