Kerala Assembly Speaker election set for three-cornered contest

The Kerala Legislative Assembly is set to hold a rare multi-cornered contest for the post of Speaker on Friday, with three major candidates vying for the position.

The election for the post of Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly will be held on Friday, with all three major political fronts fielding candidates in a rare multi-cornered contest.

Senior Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan is the candidate of the ruling Congress-led UDF, which enjoys a comfortable majority with 102 members in the 140-member Assembly.

With the numbers firmly in its favour, the front is confident of Radhakrishnan's victory.

The opposition CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, which has 35 members in the House, has fielded senior CPI(M) leader and former minister A C Moideen for the post.

The BJP, which opened a new chapter in Kerala politics by winning three Assembly seats in the April 9 elections, has nominated newly elected Chathannoor MLA B B Gopakumar as its candidate.

While the UDF had announced Radhakrishnan's candidature a few days earlier, the opposition fronts officially unveiled their nominees on Thursday after gathering in Thiruvananthapuram for the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected MLAs.

State BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar described the party's decision to contest the Speaker election as a ''historic moment'' for the BJP in Kerala.

''For the first time in Kerala's political history, the BJP will have a candidate in the election for this post. Gopakumar is the BJP candidate, and his name will be proposed by Muraleedharan and me,'' he told reporters.

The BJP's other MLAs in the new Assembly are V Muraleedharan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.