The nominee of the K Karunakaran faction, Kodoth Govindan Nair, on Friday defied the Congress high command and entered the fray for the Rajya Sabha election from Kerala.

Nair, the Kasaregode district unit president, filed his nomination before the legislature secretary K R Udayabhanu, who is the returning officer.

The nominees approved by the high command, Vayalar Ravi and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, had filed their papers on Thursday.

Nair said, "I am not a rebel candidate. I filed nomination as 27 Congress MLAs have asked me to contest."

The decision to put up Nair was taken at a meeting of the Karunakaran faction on Thursday.