Two ruling Left coalition candidates and one from the Congress-led opposition on Monday filed nomination papers to the three Rajya Sabha seats that fall vacant in the state from July 1.
Those who are retiring include former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, Joy Abraham of Kerala Congress (Mani) and C.P. Narayanan of the CPI-M.
With none of the retiring members getting renomination, veteran CPI-M leader and former state minister Elamaram Kareem and his then cabinet colleague (2006-11) and senior CPI leader Binoy Viswam filed their nomination before the Kerala Assembly Secretary.
Present on the occasion were Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues and CPI state Secretary Kanam Rajendran.
In the afternoon, Jose K. Mani, the Kottayam Lok Sabha member and son of veteran legislator K.M. Mani, filed his papers in the company of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala and other UDF leaders.
Surprisingly, K.M. Mani was absent when his son filed the nomination papers.
With no other candidate in the fray, there will be no voting and on June 14 the three candidates will be declared elected.
Hitting out at the Congress-led UDF, State CPI-M Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that if the Congress had the guts, they should see that a by-election to the Kottayam Lok Sabha seat takes place.
"The electorate in Kottayam elected Jose K. Mani for five years and with almost 11 months left, he has run away and in the process close to Rs 7 crore of development work that should have come through his MP fund into the Kottayam constituency has been wasted," he said.
--IANS
sg/mr
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