Thiruvananthapuram Corporation: UDF and BJP lead with early candidate announcements; LDF to announce its candidates today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With local body elections approaching, the UDF and BJP have already released their candidate lists for the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The LDF, which is running behind in the process, is expected to announce its candidates today. The list was supposed to be released yesterday, but it was delayed as the front had not finalised agreements for all wards.

The Congress released its list by fielding former MLA Sabarinathan as its mayoral candidate. The BJP announced its candidates, including former DGP R. Sreelekha. State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar made the announcement with all candidates present.

Former Sports Council president Padmini Thomas, who left the Congress and joined the BJP, will contest from Palayam. K Maheshwaran Nair will contest from Punnakamugal, and Thampanoor Satheesh from Thampanoor. Former CPM panchayat president Mukkola Prabhakaran will contest from the Port ward.

The BDJS will announce 20 candidates today. The party has complained that there was no collective discussion during the candidate selection.

Seat allocation within the LDF has been agreed upon. The CPI will contest in 17 seats. The final decision on the number of seats the CPM will contest will be made this morning. The final agreement with allied parties other than the CPI will also be reached today. The current understanding is that the CPM will contest 75 seats. More than 50 candidates will be announced today. District committee members SP Deepak, Vandithadam Madhu, SA Sundar, RP Shivaji, and area committee secretaries Vanchiyoor Babu and K Sreekumar are included in the first list. The district secretary will submit the candidate list to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan this morning. The announcement will be made only after his approval. The CPI will announce all its candidates today. Candidate lists for other local bodies in the district will be announced within two days. A seat agreement has been reached even in Vettoor grama panchayat, where CPM and CPI had disagreed last time.

The Congress is expected to announce its second list today or tomorrow.