In the 2011 Assembly elections, the CPI had contested 27 seats, and won 13 of them. The party recorded 8.72 per cent of the votes polled in that election.

The CPI’s poll campaign is being led by party general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy. Among the other star campaigners for the party are former state party secretary Pannyan Ravindran, Benoy Viswam and C. Divakaran.

One of the most prestigious contests is in Trissur from where the CPI’s most visible face in the last assembly, V S Sunil Kumar is contesting. His rivals are Padmaja Venugopal (Congress), daughter of late Congress leader K. Karunakaran and B. Gopalakrishnan of the BJP.

The LDF is making a determined effort this time to wrest the seat from Congress which has been holding it for over 25 years. And the CPI has put its best candidate on the job: V S Sunil Kumar, who had won last time from Kaipamangalam. Incidentally, the party has exempted Sunil from the two-term norm.

It is true Padmaja is on a strong wicket as Trissur is a traditional Congress seat. That the Congress has managed to receive the support of the Trissur Archdiocese is another factor in her favour. And, last but not the least, she is the daughter of K. Karunakaran who had always maintained close links with Trissur.

But the LDF leaders are confident of overcoming these factors. The CPI leaders say the fact that the LDF wrested the Trissur Corporation from the UDF in the local bodies elections is a big morale booster for the front. Sunil Kumar himself exudes confidence that the LDF would repeat the performance in the assembly elections, too. Also, the issue of corruption and the scams bedeviling the Oommen Chandy Government have turned the tide against the UDF and would benefit the LDF, believes Sunil Kumar supporters.

As for the BJP, whose vote share in Trissur has registered a steady increase, the party has fielded its state organising secretary, B. Gopalakrishnan in Trissur. The BJP had polled 14,000 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and increased it to 25,000 votes in the local bodies elections.

But the CPI is confident of wresting the seat in view of the changed political circumstances. The wind is blowing in favour of the LDF, say the CPI leaders who are also sure of Sunil Kumar taking away a big slice of the youngsters’ votes.

Another seat which the CPI is hopeful of retaining is Nedumangad from where CPI Legislative party leader C Divakaran is contesting. It is a triangular contest. But Divakaran’s stature and wealth of experience as an active and able MLA will help him emerge the victor.

Chadayamangalam is another CPI stronghold. Here, the party has fielded sitting MLA and former minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran, who is seeking a third consecutive term. The Congress has put up its senior leader M M Hassan against Mullakkara. But the CPI is set to win this seat, this time around, too.

The CPI is sitting pretty in Punalar seat as well. Punalar is regarded as a CPI fort.It may be mentioned that out of the 15 elections held from the seat, the CPI has won 12 times. That fact is self-explanatory. Party candidate K Raju is also seeking a third consecutive term from Punalur. His main rival is Younus Kunju of the IUML. Although RSP’s N K Premachandran won the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, in Punalur, CPI(M) Politburo member M A Baby secured a lead of over 4600 votes. In the local bodies elections, the LDF won the Punalur municipality and all the gram panchayats. Punalur is perhaps the safest bet for the CPI in Kerala.

Karunagapally is another stronghold of the CPI. The party has won seven times in the last nine assembly elections from this seat. The CPI has shifted sitting MLA, C Divakaran to Nedumangad this time and fielded R Ramachandran, whose UDF rival is CR Mahesh. Although Mahesh is putting up a good fight, Ramachandran is expected to win. In the 2011 assembly elections, Divakaran had won by a majority of over 14,000 votes. The LDF has retained the edge in the local bodies polls too by winning five out of six gram panchayats and wresting Karunagappally municipality. Karunagappally is also considered a sure-shot for the CPI.

Three of the four women candidates fielded by the CPI have also a reasonable chance of making it to the next assembly. E S Bijimol is way ahead in Peerumedu, while CK Asha and Geetha Gopi are poised to emerge victorious from Vaikkom amd Nattika respectively. The other woman candidate, Sarada Mohan, daughter of former chief minister P K Vasudevan nair, is locked in a grim battle with VD Satheesan of the Congress in Paravur constituency.

A notable feature of the CPI is that out of the 27 candidates, 12 are new faces. Prominent among them are Sarada Mohan, All India Youth Federation (AIYF) state secretary K Rajan from Ollur and Mohammad Mohsin, vice-president of the All India Students Federation (AISF) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who is trying his luck from Pattambi constituency. (IPA Service)