The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its second list of 39 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. BJP earlier announced 47 candidates for the poll.

Senior leader Kummanam Rajasekharan will contest from Aranmula. In Kasaragod, the party has fielded Ashwini M L, the district president of the BJP Mahila Morcha.

Social media influencer and former reality show contestant Dr Robin Radhakrishnan has been nominated from Kundara. Meanwhile, Advocate B Gopalakrishnan will contest from Guruvayur.

Senior leaders B Gopalakrishnan and Kummanam Rajasekharan had not figured in the first list released by the BJP. Gopalakrishnan expected a seat in Kodungallur, which eventually went to Twenty20.

There was evident discontent within the party after leaders such as B Gopalakrishnan, MT Ramesh, PS Sreedharan Pillai, A Nagesh, AN Radhakrishnan, and Kummanam Rajasekharan were excluded from the initial list of candidates released by the party. 

Three prominent leaders who had quit the CPM and the Congress have been given seats. C C Mukundan, who was expelled from the CPI citing anti-organisational activities, will contest from Nattika as the BJP candidate. He is currently the MLA of the constituency.

He had raised allegations of 'cash for seat' after the CPI had chosen Geetha Gopi as the party's candidate in the assembly polls from Nattika. Mukundan had also held discussions with the Congress leadership, and when that didn't materialise, he switched to the BJP. 

Former KPCC General Secretary and Mahila Congress leader Valsala Prasannakumar, who joined the BJP recently, will contest from Paravur. A former chairperson of Paravur, Valsala, is expected to tap the community votes to weaken opposition leader V D Satheesan's influence in the constituency. 

Ex-KPCC General Secretary M J Job, who had quit the party in protest against the decision to back CPM veteran G Sudhakaran in Ambalapuzha, will contest from Alappuzha as the BJP candidate. 

Ashwini ML, the BJP Kasaragod district president, contested as a BJP candidate from the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency in 2024. She had come third in the contest but could increase the vote share to 19.73%.

Her social media post, soon after the party's poor show in local body elections in Manjeshwar, had brought to light internal dissent over the Manjeshwar assembly seat. It was perceived that while Ashwini eyed Manjeshwar, other party leaders in the district objected to her plan. 

The names of M T Ramesh and A N Radhakrishnan are absent from the second list as well. Radhakrishnan hoped to be fielded in Manalur, while Ramesh also wanted to contest from Thrissur. The seat was, however, given to Padmaja Venugopal.

Second list of candidates:

1. Ashwini M L – Kasaragod
2. Dr Robin Radhakrishnan – Kundara
3. P R Sivasankaran – Ernakulam
4. A V Sanil Kumar – Kalliasseri
5. N Haridas – Taliparamba
6. B Radhakrishna Menon – Changanassery
7. Adv Shijilal – Kuthuparamba
8. Dr Prathap Kumar N – Kollam
9. Kummanam Rajasekharan – Aranmula
10. M J Job – Alappuzha
11. Vathsala Prasannakumar – Paravur
12. Brahmaraj M A – Aluva
13. A Nagesh – Puthukkad
14. C C Mukundan – Nattika
15. Bijoy Thomas – Ollur
16. Adv Ullas Babu – Wadakkancherry
17. Adv B Gopalakrishnan – Guruvayur
18. K V Prasanna Kumar – Alathur
19. Pranesh Rajendran – Chittur
20. Suresh Babu – Tarur
21. Renu Suresh – Kongad
22. Adv P Manoj – Pattambi
23. V Unnikrishnan Master – Thrithala
24. Ravi Thelath – Thavanur
25. K Narayanan Master – Tirur
26. Deepa Puzhakkal – Tanur
27. Riju C Raghav – Tirurangadi
28. M Preman Master – Vallikunnu
29. Jayakrishnan V N – Vengara
30. Aswathy Guptha Kumar – Malappuram
31. Lijoy Paul – Mankada
32. Adv K P Baburaj – Perinthalmanna
33. Pathmasree M – Manjeri
34. dv N Sreeprakash – Eranad
35. P Subrahmanian – Kondotty
36. Prasanth Malavayal – Kalpetta
37. Baiju Elakkuzhi – Mattannur
38. O Nidheesh – Thalassery
39. K Ranjith – Dharmadam