The parliamentary board of the Janata Dal (United), which met here on Friday, finalised five candidates for the Assembly polls.
As per the seat-sharing agreement reached among the coalition partners of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, the JD(U) will contest seven seats. Nominees for the remaining two seats will be announced on Saturday.
Sitting legislators M.V. Sreyams Kumar and the party’s lone Minister K.P. Mohanan have been renominated again from Kalpetta and Koothuparamba respectively. Party State general secretary Sheikh P. Harris, who lost from the Elathur constituency in Kozhikode district in the 2011 polls, has been nominated from Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha district.
The other candidates are Yuva Janata Dal district president K.P. Prasanth (Mattannur) and V. Surendran Pillai (Nemom), who quit the Kerala Congress (Scaria) recently after he was denied a seat.
Sources said that the nine-member parliamentary board failed to take a decision on two seats, Elathur and Vadakara, both in Kozhikode district.
The party leadership had initially decided to field Kozhikode district president Manayath Chandran for the Vadakara seat. But State secretary M.K. Bhaskaran is also an aspirant. In Elathur, there are two main contenders, Yuva Janata Dal State president Salim Madavoor and mandalam president T.M. Sivaraj. But the party wants Kozhikode Corporation councillor P. Kishenchand to contest from Elathur, a constituency formed in 2011 and considered stronghold of the CPI(M)-led LDF.
JD(U) State president M.P. Veerendrakumar, who is recuperating from an illness in New Delhi, did not attend the meeting.
Party secretary general Varghese George, senior vice president P. Koran, and Mr. Mohanan were present.
