Wayanad: The Communist Party of India (CPI) has announced that their Lok Sabha candidate from Wayanad, Annie Raja, will be filing her nomination papers on Wednesday, the same day as Congress candidate and sitting MP, Rahul Gandhi. The CPI is a partner of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala, but the two parties are also fierce competitors in the state. Raja, who is the wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, holds prominent positions in the party’s women’s wing and has been a leading voice in fighting against atrocities towards women.
Meanwhile, Gandhi will be kicking off his electoral campaign in Wayanad after filing his nomination papers. The BJP has also fielded its state president, K Surendran, from this key constituency. In the previous Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi had won with a significant majority in Wayanad, with Raja coming in second place. However, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had won 19 out of 20 seats in Kerala overall. Despite being political rivals, both the CPI and Congress have joined forces under the INDIA bloc to oppose the BJP at the Centre. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Wayanad as both parties put up their strongest candidates against each other.
