Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Thursday alleged that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) is resorting to “low-level politics” by fielding a namesake candidate against state BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the Nemom constituency ahead of the state Assembly elections.

BJP state general secretary S Suresh said CPM candidate and minister V Sivankutty was behind the move. He claimed that the CPM had fielded Rajeev Kumar GS, secretary of the party’s Arannoor branch, as a namesake candidate to confuse the voters. Suresh said Rajeev Kumar was a familiar figure among residents of Thiruvananthapuram and Karamana.

“Sivankutty, gripped by fear of defeat, is resorting to all possible tactics to escape it,” he said, adding that the minister’s current actions were “even more shameful” than his past conduct in the Assembly.

He also demanded clarity from the CPM on whether Rajeev Kumar had been fielded as a namesake candidate in the name of Rajeev Chandrasekhar to undermine democracy, or whether he was contesting as a rebel candidate against Sivankutty.

Suresh further claimed that the NDA had already built enough support in the Nemom constituency to secure a victory margin of 50,000 votes. He urged the CPM not to repeat what he described as a “political drama” similar to the one allegedly staged in Manjeshwaram to defeat K Surendran, and warned against attempting such tactics on the politically aware electorate of Nemom.

The Election Commission of India has scheduled polling for Kerala on April 9, with counting on May 4. Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Sivankutty, along with the UDF’s K S Sabarinadhan, are the key candidates in the Nemom constituency.