Among them are two legislators, one each from the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Six southern districts of the state will go to the polls April 22. The time for withdrawing nominations ended at 3 p.m. Friday.

A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar, the legislator of the opposition Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) from Kovalam constituency, was initially selected as a candidate by his party.

After CPI-M objected to his candidature on account of his conviction in two sexual harassment cases, the JD-S asked him to step down but Nadar refused to do so.

Early this week, Nadar resigned from the JD-S and filed his nomination as an independent candidate. Eight-time Congress legislator K.K. Nair is the rebel candidate from Pathanamthitta constituency. He has filed his nomination and begun his campaign.

He did this after the Congress decided to field K. Sivadasan Nair as its candidate.

T. Saratchandra Prasad, a former Congress legislator, is another rebel candidate who despite several pleas from the party has not withdrawn his candidature from the Thiruvananthapuram West constituency.

He entered the fray in protest after the Congress decided to give the seat to Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran (DIC-K) candidate and former legislator Shobana George.

Former bureaucrat K.J. Alphonse, who is fighting the Kanjirapally assembly seat as an LDF-supported independent candidate, got a shock when senior Kerala Congress-Joseph leader Georgekutty Augusthy did not withdraw from the fray.

Leaders of the Kerala Congress-Joseph, an ally of the LDF, were peeved after their party was given just six seats. Former legislator and DIC-K leader Maleth Sarala Devi is also facing a rebel Congress candidate in the Aranmula seat.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala Friday said rebel candidates would have no place in the party, and that both Nair and Prasad could be booted out from the party.