PJ Joseph faction gets 10 seats, all candidates announced

Kottayam: The PJ Joseph-led faction of the Kerala Congress will contest on 10 assembly seats in the legislative assembly polls as per the allocations announced by the United Democratic Front. The candidates for these 10 seats were announced on Saturday.

Party leader PJ Joseph will contest again from Thodupuzha which he currently represents in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.

Veteran leader and two-time Lok Sabha member Francis George has been chosen for the Idukki seat.

The Thrikkarippur candidate is MP Joseph, the son-in-law of Kerala Congress titan late K M Mani.

As expected Mons Joseph, MLA, will test his electoral luck again from Kaduthuruthy.

For the contentious Ettumanoor seat, the Joseph group candidate is Prince Lukose. His main rival here is CPM's Kottayam district secretary V N Vasavan.

VJ Lali, the former president of the Madapally Block Panchayat, will be in the fray from the coveted Changanacherry seat. He is a teacher at the St. Theresas Higher Secondary School at Vazhapally and a member of the high-power committee of the party.

Lali is set to take on the LDF candidate Job Michael of the Kerala Congress (Mani) in a closely watched contest.

Thomas Unniyadan will be the party candidate in Irinjalakuda.

The following are the 10 constituencies and the candidates.

Thodupuzha - P J Joseph

Idukki - Francis George

Ettumanoor - Prince Lukose

Kaduthuruthy - Mons Joseph

Irinjalakuda - Thomas Unniyadan

Kothamangalam - Shibu Thekkumpuram

Kuttanad - Jacob Abraham

Changanacherry - V J Lali

Thiruvalla - Kunjukoshy Paul

Thrikkarippur - MP Joseph.