Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India has reportedly decided to enforce strictly its own norm that its members who were in the electoral fray twice should be barred from contesting again. Thus, all its four ministers in the Left Democratic Front state government as well a few legislators are unlikely to be allotted party nominations to contest in the Kerala Legislative Assembly election. The chances of several fresh faces making their appearance in the candidate list are high as the CPI state leadership is keen on this.
The party's four ministers in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government are E Chandrashekharan, K Raju, P Thilothaman and V S Sunil Kumar. The quartet has already met or exceeded the party norm of limited attempts in the poll fray.
Revenue minister Chandrashekharan has completed two terms from the Kanhangad assembly constituency. The trio of Raju (Punalur), Thilothaman (Cherthala), Sunil Kumar (Thrissur) had contested the polls last time after getting relaxation in the two-term condition.
The legislators who won't make the cut for the polls this time, as per the two-time limit, include Mullakkara Ratnakaran, G S Jayalal, E S Bijimol, C Divakaran, E K Vijayan, Geetha Gopi, Chittayam Gopakumar and V Sasi.
It has to be seen if the CPI state leadership would go back on its current decision and adopt a liberal stand later to field one or two ministers or some MLAs in the election when the electoral prospects are assessed.
The CPI has 19 MLAs among the 140 elected representatives in the state Assembly. It is yet to finalise the candidates for the upcoming polls, likely in April or May.
