Thiruvananthapuram, March 28 (IANS) With the filing of nominations beginning on Thursday for seats going to Lok Sabha polls in Kerala , actor-turned-politician, Mukesh of the CPI(M) and ML Ashwini of the BJP filed their papers at their respective constituencies.

Kerala goes to the polls on April 26 to elect all its 20 Lok Sabha members.

Actor Mukesh a sitting legislator from Kollam Assembly constituency has been fielded on the Kollam Lok Sabha seat and he is pitted against four-time sitting MP, NK Premachandran of the RSP and TV actor Krishnakumar of the BJP.

Premachandran won the 2019 polls trouncing the present state Finance Minister, KN Balagopal by a margin of over 1.48 lakh votes.

Mukesh on Thursday morning, accompanied by the top brass of the CPI(M) and other Left leaders arrived before the district Returning Officer and filed his nomination.

At Kasargod, the BJP’s representative at the Manjeshwar block panchayat, Ashwini, who is a popular woman leader, filed her nomination.

She, too, was accompanied by a good number of NDA leaders.

Ashwini and the BJP expect to give a tough fight to the traditional rivals.

However, figures from the 2019 polls show that the BJP will have to work wonders if they are to put up a fight as their candidate managed to get 1.76 lakh votes, while the winner and the runner up got more than four lakh votes.