The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday evening announced its candidates for the byelection to be held to five Assembly segments in the State.
The party leadership chose Thiruvananthapuram district president S. Suresh for the Vattiyurkavu Assembly constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, State general secretary K. Surendran for the Konni segment in Pathanamthitta district, Prakash Babu for Aroor in Alappuzha district, Ernakulam district president C.G. Rajagopal for the Ernakulam segment and Ravisha Thanthri Kuntar for Manjeswaram in Kasaragod.
The BJP is the last entrant to the electoral fray.
The Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front have already announced their candidates and started campaigning in full strength.
Reluctance
The reluctance expressed by senior leaders of the party from the State to contest in the byelection and the indecision on the part of the national leadership in finalising the candidates are understood to have delayed the announcement of the party’s candidates.
But party State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai denied that there was any delay on the part of the leadership in announcing the candidates.
Protest in Kasaragod
Meanwhile, BJP workers in Kasaragod reportedly protested against the decision to field Mr. Kuntar in Manjeswaram.
Mr. Suresh began his campaign in Vattiyurkavu by calling on Bharatiya Vichara Kendram director P. Parameswaran in the evening.
