Battlelines drawn in Kerala as Congress finalises list

Battle lines for the April 15 general elections have become clear in all but one of the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala with the Congress that heads the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) declaring their candidates.

The line-up in Kottayam is yet to become clear with the Janata Dal (JD) that was allotted the seat by the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) after it raised a banner of revolt still searching a candidate who can take on sitting MP Jose K Mani, who won the seat in 2009 by 71570 votes.

The party wanted state president Mathew T Thomas to contest the election, but he is not ready as he is a member of the legislative assembly from Thiruvalla. Following this, the party is considering the names of party senior vice-president George Thomas and state committee member Benny Kurian.

The contest on most seats will be between the traditional rivals — the UDF and the LDF led by the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPM). The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is hoping to open its account in the state with the help of the Modi wave, is expected to put up a big fight in Trivandrum and Kasargod constituencies.

Former federal minister of state for railways O Rajagopal, who bagged 228, 052 votes in the 2004 election, has a powerful opponent in sitting Congress MP and Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor, who won the seat in his debut contest in 2009 by 99, 998 votes.

K Surenrdran, who has been fielded by the BJP in Kasargod, is caught between sitting CPM member of parliament P Karunakaran and former Youth Congress president T Siddique, who are vying for the seat. Surendran, who bagged 125, 482 votes in 2004, is banking on the Modi wave to make an electoral breakthrough in the constituency.

The other seats are expected to witness straight fight between the traditional rivals. The Congress has pitted Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal and Minister of State for Food K V Thomas to retain Aleppey and Ernakulam seats. While Venugopal will be taking on Chandrababu of the CPI (M) Thomas is facing party independent Christy Fernandez.

Two other federal ministers Kodikkunnil Suresh and Mullappally Ramachandran are facing Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPM candidates in Mavelikkara and Vatakara respectively. Sitting Congress MPs P C Chacko and KP Dhanapalan, who have swapped their seats, will be facing CPI and CPI (M) independent in Trichur and Chalakkudy seats respectively.

The other sitting Congress MPs Anto Antony, M K Raghavan, K Sudhakaran and M I Shanawas are fighting to retain their Pathanamthitta, Calicut, Kannur and Wayanad seats respectively. The new faces in the Congress are Mahila Congress president Bindhu Krishna (Attingal) and Dean Kuriakose (Iudkki).

The Congress is contesting 15 of the 20 seats. Its partners Indian Union Muslim League will be contesting the Malappuram and Ponnani seats, Kerala Congress (M) Kottayam and Janata Dal (Secular) Palghat.

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