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.
Party State general secretary Saleem Madavoor will contest as an LDF-backed Independent from Koduvally.
The list was declared by RJD Kerala State president M.V. Shreyams Kumar in Kozhikode on Wednesday (March 18, 2026) 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 of 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 Kalpetta after Mr. Shreyams Kumar, who had been contesting from the segment, withdrew from the race. A former secretary of the Wayanad District Congress Committee and a former State general secretary of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, he joined the socialist bloc five years ago. Mr. Anil Kumar had been a member and later president of the Kalpetta block panchayat.
Mr. Madavoor’s candidature was announced by LDF convener T.P. Ramakrishnan in the evening.
Meanwhile, indicating a rift within the RJD, State general secretary Sabah Pulpatta has been reportedly removed from all official posts. Recently, Mr. Pulpatta had said that there was no point in continuing in the LDF if the RJD did not get at least five seats. Apart from Vadakara, Kalpetta, and Koothuparamba, the party had sought three more seats—in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, and Kozhikode. However, the LDF leadership allotted only four seats to the RJD.
Mr. Pulpatta and P. Kishanchand, a former councillor in the Kozhikode Corporation, have called a press conference in Kozhikode on Thursday.