THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With just a couple of days remaining for filing nominations, the poll picture is gradually crystallising in Thiruvananthapuram central, where UDF had declared CMP general secretary C P John as its candidate.
The LDF and the NDA are however yet to announce their candidates although they appear to have narrowed down their picks.
On Friday morning, the BJP more or less finalised senior party leader Karamana Jayan for the prestigious seat. Later in the day, the CPM zeroed in on actor Sudheer Karamana as the LDF independent.
Notably, there was confusion within all three fronts over the candidates in the constituency. In UDF, though a decision was taken to allocate the seat to CMP, senior Congress leader and ex-minister V S Sivakumar -- a former legislator from there -- was keen to contest. After much deliberation, the party leadership was able to finally sort out the issue by giving the seat to CMP and fielding Sivakumar from Aruvikkara. C P John has already launched his poll campaign in the city.
The BJP too was under pressure from different corners, after which the party brought out its second list of candidates on Thursday but kept the seat vacant. A couple of names including that of Chenkal Rajasekharan Nair, Karamana Jayan and actor Krishnakumar were doing the rounds as the party candidate.
Meanwhile, former minister V Surendran Pillai was also being talked about as a probable candidate. Curiously, his name was in discussion in two different camps. However, the party finally inclined towards Karamana Jayan.
Incidentally, it was the LDF -- which had won the seat in 2021 -- that witnessed the most dramatic last-minute confusion over candidate selection. Democratic Kerala Congress leader Antony Raju, who won from the constituency last time, was disqualified from contesting after a local court convicted him in an evidence tampering case.
The ex-minister had lost the appeal before the High Court on Wednesday.
The LDF was of the view that Antony Raju can be given another chance to contest should his conviction be suspended.
With the HC refusing to do so, the LDF considered giving the seat to Democratic Kerala Congress but the party could not propose an ideal candidate.
“With just a few weeks left, the party wants to ensure that the candidate should be a known name. It should also be someone acceptable to the LDF cadre. That’s how the party identified Sudheer Karamana,” a senior leader said.