The Kerala unit of the BJP has announced the NDA candidates for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls. Bharatiya Janata Mahila Morcha state General Secretary and BJP Parliamentary Party Leader in the Kozhikode Corporation Navya Haridas is pitted against Priyanka Gandhi in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
While BJP state general secretary C Krishnakumar will contest from Palakkad Assembly seat, K Balakrishnan was chosen to contest from Chelakkara.
The Assembly bypolls were necessitated after the sitting MLAs, Shafi Parambil of Congress and K Radhakrishnan of the CPI(M), registered victories in the general elections earlier this month. The Wayanad LS seat was vacated by Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi, who opted to keep Raebareli instead.
Navya Haridas, a former software engineer, is a two-time Kozhikode Corporation councillor. She had unsuccessfully contested the Kozhikode South seat in the Assembly polls.
C Krishnakumar is a respected leader of the saffron party in Kerala. Contesting the recent Lok Sabha polls, he had managed 2,51,778 votes from Palakkad. He was the Municipality councillor for two decades from 2000 to 2020. Krishnakumar also served as the state unit chief, district president and district general secretary of the BJP.
In the Assembly polls, the party had come to an impressive second position in Palakkad through "Metroman' E Sreedharan. The NDA had accused the Left of indulging in cross-voting to ensure Shafi's victory from the seat. Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkootathil and expelled Congress digital media convenor P Sarin would be the Congress and the CPI (M) candidates in the constituency.
Former MLA U R Pradeep and ex-MP Ramya Haridas would be the CPI (M) and Congress candidates respectively in Chelakkara