Kerala Polls: BJP Fields Sreedharan From Palakkad, Releases List

The BJP announced its first list of 112 candidates contesting in the Kerala Assembly election.

(Photo: The News Minute)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced that it will contest in 115 Assembly constituencies in the 2021 Kerala Assembly election on 6 April. The BJP also announced its first list of 12 candidates contesting in the Kerala Assembly election.

‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan will contest from the Palakkad seat, while BJP state president K Surendran will contest from two constituencies — Manjeshwar in Kasaragod and Konni in Pathanamthitta. Meanwhile, former Director-General of Police Jacob Thomas will contest from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur.

For the Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram — one of the most coveted seats in this Assembly election and BJP’s sole sitting seat in Kerala — the party has selected Kummanam Rajasekharan, former party state president and Mizoram Governor. Notably, BJP’s lone Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly O Rajagopal’s name was not announced during the press meet. While the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is yet to finalise its candidate for Nemom, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has nominated V Sivankutty of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Twenty-five seats have been allotted to its four alliance parties in National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Kerala — Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), AIADMK, Kerala Kamaraj Congress (KKC) and Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and actor turned politician Suresh Gopi is set to contest from Thrissur. He was reportedly considered for both Thrissur and Nemom, along with O Rajagopal. Suresh Gopi, who joined the party in 2016, was the first popular Kerala celebrity to join BJP.  

Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Alphons Kannanthanam will be contesting from Kanjirappally constituency in Kottayam. Meanwhile, former Director-General of Police Jacob Thomas will contest from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur. Senior BJP leader PK Krishnadas will be contesting from Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram.

Malayalam actor Krishna Kumar, who recently joined BJP, will be contesting from Thiruvananthapuram Central. From Dharmadom in Kannur, party leader CK Padmanabhan will be contesting the polls.

It was in 2016 that BJP got elected for the first time in Kerala. O Rajagopal was elected to the Nemom seat. BJP-led NDA had contested in 98 seats in the 2016 Assembly polls. In the election, LDF came to power with a landslide victory by winning in 91 out of 140 seats, while the UDF won 47 seats.

(This article was first published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission.