Sobha Surendran to contest from Kazhakkoottam, BJP announces candidates for 4 seats

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP has announced the names of candidates for 4 seats ahead of the Kerala assembly polls. Sobha Surendran will contest from Kazhakkoottam. BJP will field M Sunil from Kollam and Bitty Sudheer from Karunagappally. Mukundan Palliyara is the new candidate in Mananthavady. BJP has confirmed Sobha Surendran’s candidature in Kazhakkoottam seat after the national leadership intervened in the matter.

Earlier, Sobha declared that she will start the election campaign from Thursday onwards. BJP released the list of candidates on Sunday. But name of the candidate for Kazhakkoottam seat was not carried in the list. Responding to this, BJP leaders stated that there will be a suspense behind Kazhakkoottam seat.

But BJP failed to keep the suspense and bring a candidate as per the expectations. Following this, Sobha Surendran was named as the candidate for Kazhakkoottam seat. Earlier, Sobha had approached the party claiming Kazhakkoottam seat and raised the demand publicly.

Meanwhile, Manikandan who was selected for Mananthavady seat withdrew from the electoral fray. He refused to contest the polls claiming that the party did not inform him about his candidature. He declared that he is not interested to contest the polls. Manikandan added that he only wants to look after his family by doing a job according to his qualification. Following this, BJP selected another candidate for Mananthavady seat.