Thiruvananthapuram: The top brass of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) has announced senior leader and former minister Elamarom Kareem as its candidate for Rajya Sabha from the state. The 64-year-old trade union heavyweight from Kozhikode was the industries minister in the previous V S Achuthanadan ministry, and is a member of the CPM Central Committee.
The name of politburo member and former General Secretary Prakash Karat was also strongly recommended by a section in the state as they felt the party needed a "strong leader" to present its stand in the Upper house. However, Karat chose to stay away in a throwback to 2015, when he refused the Rajya Sabha position and the seat went to KK Rajesh, much junior to him.
Now, the Party has five members in Rajya Sabha with three from Kerala and one each from Tripura and Tamil Nadu. The election will be held on June 21 as the term of C P Narayanan of CPM along with P J Kurian of Congress and Joy Abraham of Kerala Congress (M) ends on July 1.
LDF has the electoral capacity in the state assembly to elect two candidates. CPM has given the second seat from the state to CPI. It has chosen party Central Secretariat member Binoy Viswam as the nominee.
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