Thiruvananthapuram: BJP on Saturday released its third list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections, announcing nominees in 11 constituencies and taking the total number of declared candidates to 97.The party named V Ratheesh for Peermade, Ravindranath Vakathanam for Puthuppally, Ajimon for Mavelikkara, Pandalam Prathapan for Adoor, K R Rajesh for Chavara, R S Arun Raj for Chadayamangalam, B S Anoop for Chirayinkeezhu, Karamana Jayan for Thiruvananthapuram, Vivek Gopan for Aruvikkara, T N Suresh for Kovalam and Rajasekharan Nair for Neyyattinkara.Notably, former Congress leaders Anoop and Arun Raj have been fielded as BJP candidates soon after joining the party. Suresh had recently left Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).Anoop and Arun Raj were formally inducted into BJP by state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday morning after dissatisfaction over candidate selection within Congress. Anoop was the Congress candidate in Chirayinkeezhu in 2021 assembly elections and Arun Raj was a former Youth Congress general secretary.Anoop, a former block panchayat member, quit Congress alleging that the party overlooked local opposition while selecting candidates, particularly protesting the nomination of Ramya Haridas. Arun Raj, a former KPCC executive committee member, also exited the party citing similar concerns.Meanwhile, BJP decided to field Jayan as its candidate, overlooking former minister and RJD state leader Surendran Pillai who recently left LDF. Party sources indicated that Jayan’s organisational experience and strong local presence weighed in his favour despite internal discussions over the candidature.
