O.R. Kelu
Sitting MLA O.R. Kelu, State president of the Adivasi Kshema Samiti, a tribal feeder organisation of the CPI(M), and member of the CPI(M) district committee, started his political career as a member of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).
He had served as a member of the Thirunelly grama panchayat for five years and president of the grama panchayat for 10 years. Mr. Kelu has been active in politics for the past 30 years. He defeated Congress leader and former Tribal Development Minister P.K. Jayalakshmi in the 2016 Assembly polls by a margin of 1,307 votes. This time, he again defeated Ms. Jayalakshmi by a margin of 9,282 votes.
I.C. Balakrishnan
Sitting MLA I.C. Balakrishnan, who has been elected from Sulthan Bathery, a segment reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the State, for the third consecutive time, entered politics through Kerala Students Union. Mr. Balakrishnan was a youth Congress district general secretary from 2004 to 2007. He also acted as the welfare standing committee chairman of the Thavinhal grama panchayat from 2007 to 2009.
He was elected from the Sulthan Bathery segment in 2011. He defeated A. Sankaran of the CPI(M) by a margin of 7,583 votes. He again defeated Rugmini Subrahmanyan of the CPI(M) by a margin of 11,198 votes in 2016. Mr. Balakrishnan secured 75,747 votes while Ms. Subrahmanyan got 64,549 votes.
T. Siddique
T. Siddique, vice president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, began his political career as KSU member during his student life.
He was a KSU unit president of the Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kozhikode, and College Union chairman of the Devagiri College, Kozhikode. He was also act as the unit president of the Government Law College Unit, Kozhikode, and Senate member of the Calicut University. Mr. Siddique was the State president of the Youth Congress from 2007 to 2009.
He was also the District Congress president of Kozhikode from 2016 to 2020. Though his name had been suggested as a contestant of the Congress party to Wayanad Parliamentary constituency in 2019, he stayed away from the fray for the entry of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
In the 2016 polls, Mr. Siddique was a candidate of the Congress in Kunnamangalam Assembly segment in Kozhikode district but he was defeated by LDF-backed independent P.T.A. Rahim by a margin of 11,205 votes.
