BJP announces election candidates for Kerala, TN, Assam, Bengal
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced its candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Elections are due to be held between March and May in the four states and the votes will be counted on May 2. Notably, the BJP already forms the government in Assam with Sarbananda Sonowal as the Chief Minister.
BJP will contest as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner in 20 constituencies. State president L Murugan will contest from Dharapuram, senior leader H Raja from Karaikudi, BJP Women's Wing Chief Vanathi Srinivasan from Coimbatore South, MR Gandhi from Nagercoil, and Khushboo Sundar from Thousand Lights. Notably, ex-IPS officer K Annamalai will make his electoral debut from the Aravakurichi seat against DMK's R Elango.
NDA's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) will contest 178 seats in the Tamil Nadu polls. The elections will be held in a single phase on April 6. The term of the 234-seat state Legislative Assembly ends on May 24, 2021.
The BJP will contest 115 seats in Kerala. BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh announced that "Metro Man" E Sreedharan will contest from Palakkad, former State President Kummanam Rajasekharan from Nemom, state President K Surendran from Manjeshwar and Konni, KJ Alphons from Kanjirappally, Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi from Thrissur, Abdul Salam from Tirur seat, and former DGP Jacob Thomas from Irinjalakuda.
The Assembly elections in Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 6. The term of the 140-seat state Legislative Assembly ends on June 1, 2021. Simultaneously, the by-election for the vacant Mallapuram Parliamentary seat will be conducted on April 6.
In Assam, the BJP will contest 92 seats. The election will be held in three phases: March 27 (to be held in 47 Assembly constituencies), April 1 (39), and April 6 (40). The BJP announced 17 candidates for the third phase including Chandra Mohan Patowary from Dharmapur, Suman Haripriya from Hajo, Siddhartha Bhattacharya from Gauhati East, and Atul Bora from Dispur.
West Bengal's election will be held in eight phases: March 27 (to be held in 30 Assembly constituencies), April 1 (30), April 6 (31), April 10 (44), April 17 (45), April 22 (43), April 26 (36), and April 29 (35). The BJP—which has already announced candidates for the first two phases—announced 27 and 38 candidates for the third and fourth phases respectively.
The BJP is fielding economist Ashok Lahiri from Alipurduar, Rajib Banerjee from Domjur, Rabindranath Bhattacharya from Singur, Sapan Dasgupta from Tarakeshwar, Nisith Pramanik from Dinhata, Babul Supriyo from Tollygunge, Rantidev Sengupta from Howrah Dakshin, Dr. Indranil Khan from Kasba, Locket Chatterjee from Chuchura, among others.
