The BJP is likely to finalise its candidates for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls in a couple of days, a report said.
The BJP, the second-largest party in the AIADMK-led NDA alliance in the poll-bound state, has decided that all its candidates should file their nominations on Monday, 6 April. The saffron party's Tamil Nadu election in-charge, Piyush Goyal, is currently in Chennai to finalise the list.
According to state unit chief Nainar Nagenthran, a party committee formed to select candidates has shortlisted three people for every seat and forwarded the names to the central leadership for approval. The candidates will be officially announced once the approval of the party's parliamentary board arrives, Nagenthran reportedly said.
When asked if former state chief K. Annamalai was shortlisted for any seat, he said that everyone, including women and youth, has been included, The New Indian Express said in a report. Earlier reports had claimed that Annamalai had backed out from contesting over his disapproval of the seats allotted to the BJP by the AIADMK. Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan and Annamalai were reportedly vying for a seat in the Coimbatore district, another report said.
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The BJP is contesting 27 seats, while the PMK has been allotted 18 seats. The AMMK is in the fray for 11, the TMM five seats, the IJK two seats, and the TMMK one seat. As per sources, the candidate list could see BJP state president Nayinar Nagendran contesting from Sattur constituency for the first time.
Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on Thursday, April 23 and and the counting of votes will be held on Monday, May 4.
