Thiruvananthapuram,  The race for Kerala Police most coveted post of -- State Police chief (law and order) has begun with present Director General of Police Loknath Behra superannuating on June 30.

Among the front runners from the state are Rishiraj Singh, head of Jails in the state, Tomin Thachankary, presently CMD of a leading state run financial institution, Sudheesh Kumar, the head of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The others in line include B. Sandhya who heads the Fire and Rescue Services and Anil Kant -- all holding DGP ranks.

Then there is Arun Kumar Sinha (Jr) presently on central deputation now heading the SPG in Delhi.

A source in the know of things said that as per the present set of rules the state government has to send a list of six names according to the seniority to the Centre, who first make a screening on the track record of each person and sends back the list and then the state government can choose anyone whom they wish from that list.

"When the state sends its list it has to make sure how many months of service are left for each one of them. According to the rules only those who have a minimum of two years service left can be appointed.

"But here again there are ways to circumvent these rules as even with two months of service left, such people can be given the top most post with a rider, in- charge. This in-charge posting can be even given to a junior officer also," said the source who did not wished to be identified.

The source who knows intricate details of how things happen said, should the Pinarayi Vijayan government retain power, then there is every chance that Thachankary might get the nod and should the Congress regain power, it could well be Sandhya.

"Of the lot, the perfect person for this post is Sinha and you never know he could well turn out to be the dark horse," added the source.