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