In the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party has fielded just one Muslim face.
Calicut University’s former V-C Abdul Salam will contest from Kerala’s Malappuram, BJP announced in its first list announced on Saturday.
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Who is Abdul Salam?
• Abdul Salam hails from Tirur, Kerala.
• According to his LinkedIn profile, till 2018, he had published 153 research papers, 15 review articles and 13 books in Biological Sciences.
• He joined the BJP in 2019.
• In the 2021 Kerala assembly elections, he contested from the 135 Nemom constituency.
• Abdul Salam served as the vice chancellor of Calicut University from 2011 to 2015.
• His disclosed net worth is ₹6.47 crore, reported Live Hindustan.
• There are no registered criminal cases against him, the report added.
The BJP’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala comprises 12 candidates in the state. The state sends 20 members to the lower house.
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Suresh Gopi, a prominent film actor, is nominated for the Thrissur seat, while Anil Antony, son of former defence minister AK Antony, has been fielded from Pathanamthitta. MT Ramesh is the BJP candidate from Kozhikode.
Union minister of state Rajeev Chandrashekhar has been fielded from Thiruvananthapuram, where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is the current MP.
Notably, BJP Kerala State Unit Chief K Surendran’s name is absent from the 12-member list, and reports suggest he won’t be contesting the upcoming elections.
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BJP’s first list for 2024 Lok Sabha elections
The BJP has unveiled its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, revealing contenders for various states.
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In Uttar Pradesh, the party has nominated 51 candidates, while fielding 20 candidates in West Bengal. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have 24 and 15 candidates, respectively. Rajasthan also has 15 BJP candidates in the fray. Kerala will see 12 BJP contenders, followed by Telangana with 9. Assam, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh each have 11 candidates. Delhi has 5 candidates, while Jammu & Kashmir has 2. Uttarakhand will see 3 BJP contestants, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa have 2 each, and Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar, and Daman & Diu each have 1 candidate.
