Pannian Raveendran, The Veteran Face Of CPI (Image: X/@CPIMKerala)

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has announced the candidate list for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Senior leader Pannian Raveendran is the party candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

Pannian Raveendran, the former CPI state secretary, was born in Kannur in 1945. The 78-year-old veteran leader had won from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in 2005. During the 2005 by-poll, which was held following the death of CPI leader PK Vasudevan Nair, Pannian Raveendran won with a record margin of 74,000 votes. While the CPI leader secured 3,90,324 votes, Congress candidate VS Sivakumar managed to get only 3,16,124 votes.

During the 2011 Kerala Assembly elections, Pannian Raveendran contested from the Paravur constituency. However, Congress candidate VD Satheesan won the constituency with a winning margin of 11349 votes. While the Congress candidate got a total vote of 74632, Pannian Raveendran was able to secure only 63283 votes.

In 2012, Pannian Raveendran took charge as the CPI state secretary. He served in the post until 2015. According to the New Indian Express report, Pannian Raveendran had initially been reluctant to return to parliamentary politics. However, the veteran leader reportedly relented to the party leadership’s pressure. The CPI leader is also a football fan and has written three books on football. The leader has also penned books on various topics. It is worth mentioning that Pannian Raveendran used to write under the pen name PR Kakkad in his early life.

Thiruvananthapuram constituency is likely to witness a triangular fight between the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the United Democratic Front (UDF), and the BJP. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor won the seat. Shashi Tharoor defeated BJP leader Kummanam Rajashekharan by a margin of 99,989 votes. Notably, it was a hat-trick victory for the former UN diplomat.