Thiruvananthapuram: CPI members in Kerala who have been elected to the state assembly thrice would not get tickets to contest the coming polls as the party wanted to give opportunities to the younger generation.
The state council of the CPI, a major partner in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala, at a meeting here on Friday took a decision to this effect, the party said.
As a consequence, ministers V S Sunil Kumar representing Thrissur, P Thilothaman (Cherthala) and K Raju (Punalur) would not be able to contest the assembly elections likely in April-May as they had been MLAs for three terms.
Three other sitting legislators, E S Bijimol, C Divakaran and Mullakkara Ratnakaran, would also lose their chance to contest the polls because of the same reason. Divakaran and Ratnakaran were ministers in the VS Achuthanandan Cabinet (2006-11).
Their party colleague and Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan will get another chance as he is a two-term MLA.
"We have decided to implement the three-term policy strictly and the decision was taken to give opportunity to the youngsters and there will not be any exemption in these criteria," CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran told reporters.
He also said office-bearers of the party will have to step down from the position if they wanted to contest the assembly polls and made it clear there will not be any exception.
The CPI is the second biggest ally after the CPI-Marxist in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala. In the 2016 Assembly polls, the CPI contested 27 seats and won 19.
On the other hand, the opposition Congress has in principle agreed to field all its 22 sitting MLAs though the final decision on fielding party veteran KC Joseph will be made later.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
