Jose K Mani to contest from Pala

Kottayam: Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K Mani will contest from Pala and and party's lone minister Roshy Augustine will seek mandate from Idukki in assembly polls. Jose announced the list of 12 candidates on Monday.Other candidates are N Jayaraj (Kanjirappally), Job Michael (Changanassery), Sebastian Kulathungal (Poonjar), Biju Chirayath (Chalakudy), Pramod Narayan (Ranni), Cyriac Chazhikadan (Thodupuzha), Sabu K Jacob (Piravom), Mathew Kunnappally (Irikkur), Nirmala Jimmy (Kaduthuruthy) and Basil Paul (Perumbavoor).Jose, a Rajya Sabha MP, will take on UDF's Mani C Kappan, who is the sitting MLA, and BJP's Shaun George. Jose had lost to Kappan in 2021 assembly polls. Chirayath, who resigned from Congress on Monday, is a surprise candidate. The party won five seats in last elections. (With inputs from agencies)