India, May 4 -- Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is battling for the Dharmadam Assembly constituency as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate. He is facing K Ranjith of the BJP and VP Abdul Rasheed of the Congress in a three-cornered contest. Vijayan was seen leading by a decent margin of 8241 votes against Congress' Rasheed, while K Ranjith was in third position with 15424 votes, lagging by 51895.

An incumbent since May 25, 2016, Vijayan led the Left Democratic Front to a historic re-election in 2021, breaking Kerala's long-standing pattern of alternating governments. A staunch critic of the BJP, Vijayan continues to position the Left as the principal ideological counter to the RSS.

Born in 1944 in Pinarayi in Kannur d...