The Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (March 19, 2026) announced the second list of candidates for the Assembly elections to be held in Kerala on April 9. As per the list, which features candidates for 39 constituencies, senior leader Kummanam Rajasekharan will contest from Aranmula, while B. Gopalakrishnan, who had begun his preliminary poll campaign in Kodungallur, has now been fielded from Guruvayur.
Meanwhile, C.C. Mukundan, the ousted Communist Party of India (CPI) MLA who later joined the BJP ahead of the Kerala Assembly polls, will seek a mandate from Nattika. Vathsala Prasanna Kumar will contest from Paravur, where the Congress has fielded Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan.
86 names so far
With this, the BJP has so far announced a total of 86 candidates.
Notably, the second list features six women, taking the total number of women candidates to 13. Of these, seven were named on the first list, which was released two days ago. Among the notable names on the first list are Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who has been fielded from the Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram; former Union Minister V. Muraleedharan from Kazhakuttam; and George Kurian from Kanjirappally.
The party is expected to announce another list of around 10 candidates in the coming days.
The full second list of candidates:
Kasaragod – Ashwini M.L.
Kalliasseri – A.V. Sanil Kumar
Taliparamba – N. Haridas
Dharmadam – K. Ranjith
Thalassery – O. Nidheesh
Kuthuparamba – Shijilal
Mattannur – Biju Elakkuzhi
Kalpetta – Prasanth Malavayal
Kondotty – P. Subrahmanian
Ernad – N. Sreeprakash
Manjeri – Pathmasree M.
Perinthalmanna – K.P. Baburaj
Mankada – Lijoy Paul
14. Malappuram Ashwathy Gupatha Kumar
Vengara – Jayakrishnan V.N.
Vallikkunnu – M. Preman
Tirurangadi – Riju C. Raghav
Tanur – Deepa Puzhakkal
Tirur – K. Narayanan
Thavanur – Ravi Thelath
Thrithala – V. Unnikrishnan
Pattambi – P. Manoj
Kongad (SC) – Renu Suresh
Tarur (SC) – Suresh Babu
Chittur – Pranesh Rajendran
Alathur – K.V. Prasanna Kumar
Guruvayur – B. Gopalakrishnan
Wadakkanchery – T.S. Ullas Babu
Ollur – Bijoy Thomas
Nattika (SC) – C.C. Mukundan
Pudukkad – A. Nagesh
Aluva – M.A. Brahmaraj
Paravur – Vathsala Prasanna Kumar
Ernakulam – P.R. Sivasankar
Changanassery – B. Radhakrishna Menon
Alappuzha – M.J. Job
Aranmula – Kummanam Rajasekharan
Kundara – Dr. Robin Radhakrishnan (Robin RB)
Kollam – Dr. N. Prathap Kumar
Published – March 19, 2026 11:33 am IST
