KOLLAM: Kollam MP and RSP Central Secretariat member NK Premachandran has been named as the UDF candidate for Kollam confirmed by RSP State Secretary Shibu Baby John. This marks Premachandran’s fifth Lok Sabha candidacy in the region. He previously contested in 1996 and 1998 under the LDF winning in 2014 as a UDF candidate by defeating CPM Politburo member MA Baby.

In 2019, Minister KN Balagopal lost to Premachandran by a significant margin of 1,48,869 votes. Previously, Premachandran served as the Minister of Water Resources in the VS Achuthanandan government and has also been a Rajya Sabha member.

CPM state secretariat proposed a panel for Kollam, including names like CS Sujatha, M Mukesh and Sujith Vijayan Pillai. However, only Mukesh’s name was put forward by the district secretariat for consideration. The final decision is expected on the 27th. Meanwhile, the BJP is considering BB Gopakumar or Kummanam Rajasekharan as potential NDA candidates.