BJP Candidates From Kerala: Suresh Gopi, Anil Antony, M T Ramesh Among Others
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set the electoral stage for Kerala with the release of its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Announced by party General Secretary Vinod Tawde during a press conference convened by the BJP central leadership in New Delhi on Saturday, the party revealed its candidates for 12 out of the state”s 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.
As projected, actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi has been fielded from the Thrissur constituency. A former Rajya Sabha MP, Gopi, had contested the general elections from Thrissur in 2019 but finished third.
Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been announced as the BJP candidate to contest from Thiruvananthapuram. The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology will be facing sitting MP Shashi Tharoor, the key candidate from Congress.
The list also includes names like MT Ramesh, who will represent Kozhikode, and Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader and former defence minister AK Antony, nominated for the Pathanamthitta constituency. Additionally, Sobha Surendran will vie for victory in Alappuzha. Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, will be contesting from the constituency of Attingal, while MT Ramesh has been nominated as the candidate from Kozhikode.
The lone Muslim candidate on the list is Abdul Salam, the former Vice Chancellor of Calicut University between 2011 and 2015. Contesting from the constituency of Malappuram, Salam joined the party in 2019 and contested in the last assembly elections as an NDA candidate from Tirur. Notably, he is also the national vice president of the minority morcha of the saffron party.
2024 ലോക്സഭാ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പിനുള്ള ബിജെപിയുടെ ആദ്യഘട്ട സ്ഥാനാർത്ഥി പട്ടിക പുറത്തുവിട്ടു. ഭാരതത്തെ വികസനപാതയിൽ നയിക്കുന്ന മോദി ഭരണത്തിന് കരുത്തേകാൻ ഓരോ വോട്ടും NDA സ്ഥാനാർത്ഥികൾക്ക്. #modiyudeguarantee #PhirEkBaarModiSarkar pic.twitter.com/lyTlMhZpwY
— BJP KERALAM (@BJP4Keralam) March 2, 2024
However, notable absentees from the list include BJP Kerala State Unit Chief K Surendran. Reports suggest that Surendran has opted out of contesting in the upcoming polls.
BJP candidates from their respective constituencies:
- Palakkad – C Krishnakumar
- Kasargod – M L Ashwini
- Kannur – C Raghunath
- Vadakara – Praful Krishnan
- Kozhikode – M T Ramesh
- Malappuram – Dr Abdul Salam
- Ponnani – Nivedita Subramanian
- Thrissur – Suresh Gopi
- Alappuzha – Shobha Surendran
- Pathanamthitta – Anil Antony
- Attingal – V Muraleedharan
- Thiruvananthapuram – Rajeev Chandrasekaran
