The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] is likely to finalise its list of candidates by March 10. The party is going through the convulsions of candidate selection. Much of the action appeared concentrated in CPI(M) district committees.
Last week, the district committees had submitted a panel of potential candidates to the CPI(M) State committee. After much deliberations, it had sent an amended list back to the district committees.
The district committees would send the proposals back with their suggestions to the party. The State secretariat would vet the district committees proposals and forward the names of likely contestants to the Polit Bureau.
The CPI(M) State committee had decided not to assign seats to members who had contested the Assembly elections on two consecutive occasions. A party insider said district committees were unlikely to go against the State committee norm.
The likelihood of any modification of the State committee line on candidate selection was remote. “There might be debates on the pros and cons of the decision. Any waiver, if at all, would have to come from the Polit Bureau, which was far fetched but not implausible,” he said.
Several prominent leaders, including high-profile ministers, had found themselves without party tickets due to the two-term norm. It had caused some disquiet among their supporters.
The uneasiness had manifested as posters in Alappuzha, Kannur and Palakkad districts. It also found an echo in social media.
CPI(M) leaders quickly distanced themselves from the poster and social media campaign. P. Jayarajan, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran disavowed the voices of dissent.
The CPI(M) also cracked the whip on indiscipline by suspending a member in Kannur for publicly commenting on the party's internal processes.
Law Minister A.K. Balan was the latest victim of the poster campaign. Anonymous persons had stuck bills against the reported candidature of his wife P.K. Jameela in Tharoor in Palakkad.
He told journalists that the CPIM) was yet to finalise the candidate list. “The party might strike out some names. It might include others. The Polit Bureau would vet the final list,” he said.
The Congress has sought to exploit the perceived dispute in the CPI(M) in Kannur over Mr. Jayarajan's "exclusion" from the electoral fray. Congress working president K. Sudhakaran said the debarment of Mr. Jayarajan indicated the worsening factionalism in the party.
