BJP announces 13 candidates in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam and former Mizoram governor Kummanam Rajasekharan are among 13 candidates fielded by the BJP in Kerala for the Lok Sabha elections.

In the first list released on Thursday, the saffron party has, however, did not announce the candidate for the Pathanamthitta seat.

Pathanamthitta, which was the epicentre of Sabarimala protests, is one of the seats where the BJP has pinned its hope.

Kannanthanam will contest in the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat where he will fight against young Congress MLA Hibi Eden and P Rajeev of CPI(M).

Rajashekharan, who had quit as the Mizoram governor early this month, will be fighting the poll battle in Thiruvananthapuram against senior Congress leader and two time MP Shashi Tharoor.

K S Radhakrishnan, a former chairman of the Public Service Commission and considered close to Congress leaders, had joined the BJP early this week and was given a seat from Alappuzha.

The saffron party is contesting in 14 seats of total 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala. Five seats have been given to its ally the, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), and one seat to Kerala Congress, led by former Union minister P C Thomas.

In 2014 general elections, the BJP had finished second.

Senior BJP leader A N Radhakrishnan will be contesting the Chalakudy seat where the Left has fielded actor and MP Innocent and the Congress has deployed Benny Behnan, the UDF convenor.

Another senior leader C K Padmanabhan will be fighting the poll battle from Kannur.

The other candidates are Raveesh Thantri Kuntar from Kasargode, V K Sajeevan from Vatakara, K P Prakash Babu from Kozhikode, Unnikrishnan Master from Malappuram, V T Rema from Ponnani, C Krishnakumar from Palakkad, K V Sabu from Kollam and Sobha Surendran from Attingal.