PALAKKAD: Senior CPM leader and former MLA M Chandran passed away on Monday. He was 77 years old. He was an MLA from Alathur from 2006 to 2016. A former member of the CPM State Secretariat, he was the CPM Palakkad District Secretary from 1987 to 1998. He was undergoing treatment for cancer for a long time. He passed away at a private hospital in Ernakulam this evening.