Thiruvananthapuram, March 16 -- Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and 10 of his cabinet colleagues will contest in the April 9 state assembly election, the ruling CPI(M) said on Sunday. Kerala will go to polls in a single phase on April 9, the election commission announced on Sunday. While Vijayan will seek his mandate from his sitting seat Dharmadam assembly segment in northern Kannur district, senior leader and former health minister K K Shailaja will try her luck from Peravoor constituency in Kannur. CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan released the list of 81 candidates, including six party-backed independents during a press conference here. The CPI(M)-led LDF is eyeing a third consecutive term this time. The polls are extremely crucial for the Left parties as they face challenges from both the Congress and a surging BJP as well as anti-incumbency. Kerala remains the only state in the country that the Left parties currently govern. Having been pushed to the sidelines in their earlier strongholds of West Bengal and Tripura, the Left parties will have to beat 10 years of anti-incumbency in Kerala to prove that their ideology still carries sway over a section of voters in the country....