The Left Coordination Committee, a platform of CPI(M) rebels who had left the party at different stages, will field candidates in the Assembly elections.

Five workers of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) died in a powerful blast while they were secretly making country bombs at Aniyarukunnu in Narikkatteri, on the outskirts of the district, on Saturday night. Nine others were injured in the incident.

Noted Malayalam film actor Machan Varghese died here on Thursday at a private hospital following a brief illness, hospital sources said.

He was 50.

Noting that the Congress and CPI(M) are BJP's key political rivals, V.