The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced that it will contest in 115 constituencies in the 2021 Kerala Assembly election on April 6. The BJP also announced its list of 112 candidates who will contest in the 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. 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.
Meanwhile, former Director-General of Police Jacob Thomas will contest from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur.
‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, who joined BJP last month, had been active in Palakkad district over the last few days, hinting at his candidacy from the constituency. Notably, Sreedharan had earlier stated that he is ready to be the chief ministerial face of the BJP-led NDA.
Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Alphons Kannanthanam will be contesting from Kanjirappally constituency in Kottayam. Senior BJP leader PK Krishnadas will be contesting from Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram.
Malayalam actor Krishnakumar, who joined the BJP recently, will be contesting from Thiruvananthapuram Central. From Dharmadom in Kannur, party leader CK Padmanabhan will be the candidate.
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.
List of candidates
K Surendran - Manjeshwar, Konni
E Sreedharan - Palakkad
Kummanam Rajasekharan - Nemom
PK Krishnadas - Kattakada
CK Padmanabhan - Dharmadom
Suresh Gopy - Thrissur
Jacob Thomas IPS - Irinjalakuda
Advocate Sreekanth - Kasaragod
Velayudhan A - Uduma
Balraj M - Kanhangad
Shibin TV - Trikaripur
KK Sreedharan - Payyannur
Arun Kaithapram - Kalliasseri
Gangadharan AP - Taliparamba
Aniyamma Rajendran - Irikkur
K Ranjith -- Azhikode
Archana Vandichal - Kannur
N Haridas - Thalassery
Alphonse Kannanthanam - Kanjirappally
Abdul Salam - Tirur
Manikuttan (ST reserved seat) - Mananthavady
Krishnakumar (actor) - Thiruvananthapuram