Kerala assembly elections: Candidates rush to submit nominations before deadline

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With only one working day left to submit nomination papers for the assembly elections, a large number of candidates, including senior leaders and ministers, filed their papers across the state on Saturday.

Candidates from various political fronts arrived in groups, often accompanied by supporters in processions, to submit their nominations in different districts. Many aspirants rushed to complete the formalities on the same day, as Monday is last day to submit nominations.



Among those who filed nominations were LDF candidates, including ministers P A Mohamed Riyas in Beypore, Roshi Augustine in Idukki, Kadannappally Ramachandran in Kannur and K K Shailaja in Peravur.

UDF candidate Ramesh Chennithala submitted his nomination at the Haripad taluk office after arriving in a procession with party workers. Other UDF candidates, including KPCC president Sunny Joseph, P K Kunhalikutty and K Muraleedharan, also filed their papers.

From the NDA, K Surendran (Manjeshwaram) and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Nemom) submitted their nominations. G Sudhakaran, contesting with UDF support in Ambalappuzha, also filed his papers.

In Kozhikode, LDF candidate P A Mohamed Riyas filed three sets of nomination papers before the joint director of the local self govt department. He was accompanied by RJD leader M V Sreyams Kumar, CPM district secretary M Mehboob and VKC Mammad Koya.

LDF's T P Ramakrishnan filed his nomination at the civil station in Perambra while UDF candidate K Jayanth filed his papers in Kozhikode North before the sub-collector. BJP candidate Navya Haridas also submitted her nomination in Kozhikode North. She was accompanied by Rajasthan deputy chief minister Prem Chand Bairwa. LDF candidate Thottathil Ravindran also filed his nomination in the constituency.

Several other candidates also completed the process, including CPM-backed independent PTA Rahim (Kunnamangalam), LDF's Linto Joseph (Thiruvambady) and K M Sachin Dev (Balussery). UDF candidate V T Sooraj also filed his nomination in Balussery while LDF's Ahamed Devarkovil submitted his papers in Kozhikode South.

NDA candidates, including Giri Pamban in Koduvally, M Mohanan in Perambra, Sunny Thomas in Thiruvambady and C P Satheesh in Balussery, also filed nominations. In Thrissur district, NDA candidates Padmaja Venugopal (Thrissur), C C Mukundan (Nattika), K K Aneesh Kumar (Manalur) and K Balakrishnan (Chelakkara) submitted their nomination papers.

Election Commission informed that 537 nominations were received till 8pm on Saturday.