Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and nine of his cabinet colleagues are among the prominent figures in the fray as filing of nominations for the first phase of elections to the Kerala [Images] assembly scheduled for April 22, came to a close on Tuesday.

God had better watch out for Kerala!

59 of the 140 assembly constituencies go to the polls in the first phase. About 300 nominations were received as the deadline for nominations for the first phase ended on Tuesday evening, official sources said.

Chandy is seeking re-election from his home constituency Puthupally, which he has held since 1970, for the eighth time while Agriculture Minister K R Gouri (JSS) is contesting from Aroor for the eleventh time.

The first phase covers Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki districts.

Other ministers who have entered the fray are N Sakthan (Indian National Congress-Neamom), Babu Divakaran of Revolutionary Socialist Party (Babu) - Kollam, M V Raghavan (CMP) - Punaloor, K C Vengupal (INC) - Allapuzha, K M Mani of Kerala Congress (Mani) - Pala, C F Thomas (KCM) - Changanassery, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan (INC) -Adoor and Adoor Prakash (INC) - Konni.

Prominent LDF candidates, who have filed nominations for the first phase, are former Speaker M Vijayakumar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - Thiruvananthapuram North, veteran CITU leader P K Gurudasan (CPI-M) - Kollam, CPI-M central committee member M A Baby (Kundra) and AITUC leader C Divakaran (Karunagapally).