Day after CPI announced its list of candidates, Communist Party of India (Marxist), one of the influential opponents, announced its full list of 83 candidates for the Kerala Assembly Elections. The list was announced by CPI(M)'s acting secretary, A Vijayaraghavan. Due to the party's strict two-term policy, 33 sitting MLAs including 5 ministers in the present cabinet are not contesting. Some of CPI-M's prominent leaders like EP Jayarajan, Thomas Issac, G Sudhakaran, AK Balan, and C Raveendranath were left out of the list.
The party has nominated 12 women candidates while five youths below the age of 30 have been given tickets. There are eight candidates aged between 30 and 40 while 13 candidates are aged between 40 and 50. As many as 33 candidates are aged between 51 and 60 while 24 are above 60 years of age. As many as 42 candidates are graduates out of which 28 are advocates.
Here is a list of all the candidates and their constituencies:
Some prominent leaders include Pinarayi Vijayan, KK Shailaja, TP Ramakrishnan, MB Rajesh, P Rajeev, and MM Mani. According to reports, Minister for Co-Operation, Tourism and Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran, fisheries minister J Mercykutty Amma, and higher education minister KT Jaleel will be contesting as party-backed independent candidates.
