KOCHI: The CPM district secretariat that met here on Tuesday failed to finalise the list of candidates for the Ernakulam Assembly Constituency, even after three rounds of marathon discussions.
Though the meeting reached a consensus on some of the candidates, the district committee members were not able to finalise candidates for some key seats, including Tripunithura and Kalamassery. The district secretariat, meanwhile, finalised the party’s candidates for Aluva, Ernakulam, Thrikkakara, Kochi, Kunnathunadu and Piravom. The CPM is contesting in ten of the 14 constituencies in the district. MLAs S Sarma and Saju Paul will be contesting in their sitting seats of Vypeen and Permbavoor, respectively.
The list, which will be placed before the state committee for ratification on Wednesday, contains the names of Paul (Thrikkakara), M J Jacob (Piravom), Adv Shiji (Kunnathunadu), V Salim (Aluva), K J Maxim (Kochi) and M Anilkumar (Ernakulam).
With regard to Tripunithura and Kalamassery, now it is up to the state committee to take a final decision on the candidates. The probable list for Kalamassery includes Sakkeer Hussain, A M Yusuf and Dinesh Mani. For Tripunithura, the party is searching for a candidate other than P Rajeev. “Tripunithura will be a crucial seat as far as the CPM is concerned, where the probable Congress opponent will be K Babu. Against this backdrop, it is a ‘prestige seat’ and a section of party members want to field a heavyweight there.