Kerala Assembly polls: LDF ally RJD announces candidates; Bhaskaran, P.K. Praveen, and Anil Kumar to contest

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has decided to field M.K. Bhaskaran from Vadakara in Kozhikode, P.K. Praveen from Koothuparamba in Kannur, and P.K. Anil Kumar from Kalpetta in Wayanad as Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidates in the Kerala Assembly elections 2026.

The list was declared by RJD Kerala State president M.V. Shreyams Kumar in Kozhikode on Wednesday morning.

Mr. Bhaskaran is the Kozhikode district president of the party. He had also been the president of the Eramala grama panchayat and a member of the Vadakara block panchayat earlier.

Mr. Praveen is the nephew of K.P. Mohanan, the incumbent MLA for Koothuparamba. Mr. Mohanan had earlier decided not to contest the elections this time. Mr. Praveen had been a councillor in the Panoor municipality and a member of the erstwhile Panoor grama panchayat.

Mr. Anil Kumar was chosen for the Kalpetta seat after Mr. Shreyams Kumar, who had been contesting from there earlier, withdrew from the race. A former secretary of the Wayanad District Congress Committee and a State general secretary of the Indian Trade Union Congress, he joined the socialist party five years ago.

The RJD had earlier asked for three more seats – in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode. However, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is learnt to have told its leadership that the demand could not be met.