Kerala Assembly elections: CPM grapples with list

Thiruvananthapuram: CPM state leadership continued to grapple with candidate selection in at least four districts as the revised lists submitted by the districts were found to be inadequate.

The state secretariat which met at the AKG Centre here on Wednesday examined the revised lists forwarded by district leaders. It was expressed displeasure over district committees resending names of prspective candidates who had earlier been rejected by the state committee.

While the state committee had excluded P K Gurudasan earlier, the district committee included his name in the revised list again. The party has already finalised six senior members of the secretariat who would contest the polls and it was not in favour of bringing in Gurudasan from Kollam.

Similarly, Ernakulam district secretariat included P Rajeev’s name in the list much to the annoyance of the state leadership. The secretariat refused to clear Rajeev's name for Tripunithura as it wants him to concentrate on organisation.

The party secretariat is peeved over the fact that despite issuing specific guidelines, the district committees continued to insist and re-insist on the names of certain candidates.

Kayamkulam and Chengannur continued to remain problematic for the state leadership. Similarly, Aranmula list contains as many as seven probables making the choice difficult. The secretariat has now  directed district committees to come up names for the undecided seats. The secretariat is scheduled to meet on March 20 to give the final stamp of approval.

Meanwhile, opposition leader V S Achuthanandan is believed to have apprised the central leadership of the confusion prevailing over candidates in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam , Alappuzha and Ernakulam. He has asked the leadership to consider the winnability factor. He said the LDF should finalise candidates with the objective of winning about 100 seats. He wanted the central leadership to have a close look at the candidates' list before giving final nod.