THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Backward communities have been ignored in the list of Congress Assembly candidates as the High Command criteria of merit, ability and social justice have been blown to smithereens and group and individual interests have once again prevailed. With this, the list of Assembly candidates is almost a repeat of the cuts in the last local body elections.

The Ezhava community, which has a majority in the population, has a total of 13 seats. 2 more seats than polls in 2016. Of the 11 seats given then, only Adoor Prakash from Konni won. The Vishwakarma community, which has the third-largest Hindu population, was completely ignored. This time, three seats are given for the Latin community, two for the Nadar Christian community and one for the Dheevara community.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur districts, where the Ezhava community has a decisive majority, the community got a total of 9 seats. Of these, one each was given in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kannur districts and two each in other districts.

The Ezhava community has no seats in the five districts of Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad and Malappuram. At the same time, with the exception of Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram district, the Nair community gained six out of 13 seats, five out of 11 seats in Kollam district and six in Palakkad district.

Seats provided for the backward community

Ezhava-Uduma (Kasargod), Kannur (Kannur), Koyilandy (Kozhikode), Chittoor, Malampuzha (Palakkad), Manalur, Pudukkad (Thrissur), Vypin, Tripunithura (Ernakulam), Ambalappuzha, Kayamkulam (Alappuzha), Kollam (Kollam), Kazhakoottam (Thiruvananthapuram)

Latin Catholic-Kovalam (Thiruvananthapuram), Alappuzha (Alappuzha), Kochi (Ernakulam)

Dheevara-Kaipamangalam (Thrissur)

Nadar Christian-Parassala, Neyyattinkara (Thiruvananthapuram)