The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday, April 3, released its full list of 27 candidates for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, where it is contesting in alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Of the 27 candidates, five seats have been allotted to women, including Tamilisai Soundararajan, Vanathi Srinivasan, Kirthika Shivkumar, Kavitha Srikanth, and Vijayadharani. Notably, the party has not fielded its former state president K Annamalai.
The announcement, which was expected earlier, was delayed as the party attempted to persuade Annamalai to contest. It is learnt that he had declined to enter the fray.
Meanwhile, Annamalai had recently expressed dissatisfaction with ally AIADMK over seat-sharing, stating that the BJP had been allotted constituencies where it has limited presence. He had previously contested from Aravakurichi in the 2021 Assembly elections and from Coimbatore in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but lost both contests.
M Rajasimha Mahindra (M Ashwiin Kumar) will contest from Avadi, senior leader and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan from Mylapore, Nagesh Kumar from Thalli, C Elumalai from Tiruvannamalai, and SD Premkumar from Rasipuram.
Kirthika Shivkumar will contest from Modakkurichi, Bhorarajan from Udhagamandalam, Minister of State L Murugan from Avanashi, S Thangaraj from Tiruppur, and Vanathi Srinivasan from Coimbatore North.
Other candidates include Govi Chandru (Tiruvarur), M Muruganandham (Thanjavur), C Udhayakumar (Gandharvakottai), N Ramachandran (Pudukottai), Kavitha Srikanth (Aranthangi), C Thirumaran (Tirupattur), Pon V Balaganapathy (Manamadurai), Raama Sreenivasan (Madurai South), Nainar Nagenthran (Sattur), K Nagedran (Ramanathapuram), KRM Radhakrishnan (Tiruchendur), Ananthan Ayyasamy (Vasudevanallur), SP Balakrishnan (Radhapuram), MR Gandhi (Nagercoil), T Sivakumar (Colachel), P Ramesh (Padmanabhapuram), and Vijayadharani (Vilavancode).
Earlier, in February, after being appointed campaign manager for six constituencies — Singanallur, Madurai South, Virugambakkam, Karaikudi, Srivaikuntam, and Padmanabhapuram — Annamalai sought to be relieved of the role, citing his father’s health.