The Communist Party of India (CPI), the second biggest constituent of Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF,) on Monday officially declared candidates for its four Lok Sabha seats in the state. CPI's national executive member Annie Raja will contest from Wayanad -- the seat that was won by Rahul Gandhi in 2019.
Senior leader Pannian Ravindran will contest from Thiruvananthapuram -- the sitting seat of Shashi Tharoor while former minister Adv VS Sunil Kumar and youngster CA Arunkumar will fight from Thrissur and Mavelikkara respectively.
The candidature of the four CPI leaders was announced at the capital city by state unit chief Binoy Viswam. The communist leader said the political atmosphere favours the LDF. Rahul Gandhi has the liberty to fight from any constituency of his choice, including Wayanad. However, the Congress should introspect whether he should fight from a state like Kerala with a mere 20 seats or from the north of the country where a large number of seats are at stake, Binoy Viswam reportedly said.
In 2019, CPI's PP Suneer was defeated by Rahul by a margin of 4,31,770 votes. The Congress leader received 64.94% of the total polled votes while Suneer, a distant second got 25.24%. In the Thiruvananthapuram seat, CPI's C Divakaran finished third (2,58,556) behind BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan (3,16,142) and Shashi Tharoor (4,16,131).
A former state secretary of the CPI, veteran leader Pannian Ravindran represented Thruanathapuram in the Lower House from 2005 and 2009.
