In a setback to the BJP in Kerala, the nomination of three of its candidates has been rejected by the returning officers. With this, the party won't have candidates in these constituencies.
Nominations of N Haridas in Thalassery, Kannur; Dhanalakshmi Marimuthu in Devikulam, Iudkki; and advocate Niveditha in Guruvayur were rejected on Saturday. Haridas's nomination has been rejected for not having the signature of the BJP national president.
The nomination of the dummy candidate for Haridas was not accepted, reports Mathrubhumi News.
Haridas is the district president of the BJP in Kannur, and Thalassery is one of the strongholds of the BJP in Kannur. In 2016, VK Sajeevan of BJP had bagged 22,125 votes.
In the 2016 Assembly election for Thalassery, the CPI(M) candidate A N Shamseer had won, defeating the Congress candidate A P Abdullakutty by a margin of 34,117 votes.
With the BJP candidate’s nomination from Thalassery being rejected, the CPI(M) is now alleging that there is a tacit understanding between the UDF and the BJP to garner votes.
The nomination of Dhanalakshmi and her dummy candidate Ponpandy have been rejected for not filing the required details.
Dhanalakshmi had contested the 2016 elections on an AIADMK ticket and secured 11,613 votes. This time also, she submitted nomination as a candidate of the AIADMK which is an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Front. The constituency of Devikulam is located just one and half hours from the Tamil Nadu border.
The nomination of Bahujan Samajwadi Party’s (BSP) Thankachan has also been rejected for the Devikulam constituency.
Niveditha is the state president of Mahila Morcha. Her nomination has been rejected reportedly for not having the name of the party's state president in the nomination. There was no dummy candidate for the BJP in Guruvayur.
The last date of withdrawing nominations is March 22. So far, a total of 2,138 nominations have been filed in the state.
The state will go to polls on April 6.