The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list of 47 candidates for the Kerala Assembly elections scheduled on April 9.
State BJP chief and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been fielded from Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram district, a seat the BJP had won in the 2016 elections.
Other senior leaders who have been fielded include former state chief K Surendran from Manjeshwar, former Union MoS (External Affairs) V Muraleedharan from Kazhakootam, current MoS (Fisheries and Minority Affairs) George Kurian from Kanjirappally and state general secretary Sobha Surendran from Palakkad.
The party’s women candidates include former DGP and current Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Councillor R Sreelekha in Vattiyoorkavu, Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of late Congress CM K Karunakaran, in Thrissur constituency and Mahila Morcha state president Navya Haridas in Kozhikode North.
The BJP is expected to fight on 90-100 seats in the 140-member Kerala Assembly while its allies BDJS, Twenty-20, Kamaraj Congress are slated to get the remaining seats.
