Technocrat E. Sreedharan, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, will contest from Palakkad constituency, the party announced on Sunday as it released its list of candidates for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections.
Former BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan will contest from the much-hyped constituency Nemom, the only sitting seat of the party in Kerala.
Meanwhile, senior leader C.K. Padmanabhan will take on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Dharmadom constituency.
In a surprise move, the party has announced that BJP state president K. Surendran will contest from two constituencies in the state polls—Manjeswaram constituency in Kasaragod district and Konni in Pathanamthitta.
Another senior leader P.K. Krishnadas will take on CPI(M)’s I.B. Satheesh in Kattakkada in Thiruvananthapuram district.
Actor-turned-politicians Suresh Gopi and Krishnakumar will contest from Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram constituencies respectively, BJP general secretary Arun Singh said in New Delhi on Sunday.
The party will contest in 115 out of the 140 constituencies in Kerala, he said.
Barring Kazhakkoottam constituency, the BJP has released its list of 114 candidates for the April 6 assembly polls in New Delhi after its central election committee held a meeting on Saturday, with top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This was the second CEC meeting over the assembly polls in four states, that also include Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam, besides the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Other top leaders who attended the meeting at the BJP headquarters, included Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and party president J.P. Nadda.
Other candidates:
Irinjalakuda – Dr Jacob Thomas (former DGP)
Tirur – Dr M. Abdul Salam (former vice chancellor, University of Calicut)
Kozhikode North – M.T. Ramesh
Mananthavady – Manikuttan (first engineer from SC community)
Kanjirappally – Alphons Kannanthanam (former IAS officer and minister of state)
Haripad – K. Soman