Kunhalikutty, Kummanam Rajasekharan file nominations in Ker

: UDF candidates P K Kunhalikutty and E T Mohammed Basheer of IUML and BJP veteran Kummanam Rajasekharan were among the prominent leaders to file nominations Friday for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Kerala.

Eight candidates, including, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) nominee and sitting MP in Idukki, Joice George, had filed papers on Thursday, when nominations for the April 23 polls in the southern state opened.

Kunhalikutty, who is seeking his electoral luck again from Malappuram constituency, filed the nomination after a meeting Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) supremo, Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal.

A number of Congress and IUML leaders and activists accompanied Kunhalikutty.

Malappuram is considered to be a fortress of the United Democratic Front, where rival fronts the CPI(M)-led LDFand BJP-headed NDA are fielding V P Sanu and V Unnikrishnan respectively.

Former Mizoram Governor Rajasekharan, who is eyeing to wrest the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram seat from Congress' Shashi Tharoor, filed the nomination papers after paying floral tributes at the statue of Swami Vivekananda in the heart of the city here.

BJP state president, P S Sreedharan Pillai was among the leaders who accompanied him when he filed his papers.

Rajasekharan, a staunch RSS man and a former president of the BJP state unit, had recently resigned as Mizoram Governor to contest the polls.

Thiruvananthapuram, which would witness a fierce three-cornered fight between LDF, UDF and BJP, is one of the few seats on which the saffron party has pinned its hopes to open its account in Lok Sabha from the state.

CPI leader and sitting MLA C Divakaranan is the LDF nominee.

Sitting MP, E T Muhammed Basheer, who is seeking a third stint from Ponnani constituency, LDF candidate and sitting MLA, Veena George, contesting from Pathanamthitta and Kerala Congress (M) nominee Thomas Chazhikadan (Kottayam) were among the prominent leaders who filed nomination papers Friday.

A total of 23 candidates have filed nominations for the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala since Thursday, according to Election Commission sources here.

The last date for filing nominations isApril 4 while scrutiny would be held the next day with April 8 being the last day for withdrawal.