New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP is likely to announce its list of candidates from Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Thursday.
However, state party chief PS Sreedharan Pillai has made it clear that he will not contest the polls.
The BJP will contest in 14 of the 20 Lok sabha seats in the state. The Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) will contest in five seats and the P C Thomas-led Kerala Congress will contest the Kottayam seat. The BDJS will field candidates from Wayanad, Alathur, Idukki, Thrissur and Mavelikkara constituencies.
BJP - Likely candidates' list
Thiruvananthapuram: Kummanam Rajasekharan
Attingal: Shobha Surendran
Kollam: Sabu Varghese, Tom Vadakkan
Pathanamthitta: K Surendran
Alappuzha: K S Radhakrishnan
Ernakulam: Alphons Kannanthanam
Chalakudy: A N Radhakrishnan
Palakkad: C Krishnakumar
Kozhikode: Prakash Babu
Malappuram: V Unnikrishnan
Ponnani: V T Ramachandran
Vadakkara: V K Sajeevan
Kannur: C K Padmanabhan
Kasaragod: Ravisha Tantri
BDJS
Mavellikara: Thazhava Sahavdevan
Idukki: Biju Krishnan
Thrissur: Thushar Vellappally
Alathur: T V Babu
Wayanad: Anto Augustine
Kerala Congress
Kottayam: P C Thomas
The BJP state unit was unable to finalise its candidates list mainly due to the tussle over Pathanamthitta seat, which was the epicentre of the Sabarimala agitation in the recent past, as many leaders including Sreedharan Pillai and Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam were keen to contest.
BJP leader P K Krishnadas denied any rift in the state unit over candidate selection, though the party is dithering on the final list of candidates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah attended the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held at BJP headquarters on Tuesday evening, but a final decision on candidate selection could not be taken.
Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and the state will vote on April 23.
