TN polls: Annamalai out, Murugan and Tamilisai in BJP’s list of 27 candidates

New Delhi/Chennai: The BJP on Friday announced names of 27 candidates for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, including Union Minister L Murugan from the Avinashi seat and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan from Mylapore, but its former state president K Annamalai is not in the electoral fray.

The absence of Annamalai, a former IPS officer who was the face of the party during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, from the list of candidates comes amidst reports of differences over seat allocation.

“In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, they asked me to contest. Now, nobody has asked me to contest. I did not seek an opportunity, and I am carrying out the tasks assigned to me. If the party decides and asks me to contest, I will,” Annamalai told reporters in Coimbatore last month.

Annamalai unsuccessfully contested from Aravakurichi in the 2021 Assembly election and also lost the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

When asked why Annamalai’s name was not on the list of candidates, Union Minister and BJP State Election In-Charge Piyush Goyal said,”he is a dedicated soldier of the party, and he has desired to work across the state rather than being restricted to one constituency”.

“The candidates are selected based on the inputs from the state and the desire of each candidate where he would like to serve, in what capacity he would like to serve. All things are taken into consideration,” he said.

According to the BJP list, its Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan will contest from Coimbatore (North), Kirthika Shivkumar will be the candidate from Modakurichi, S Vijayadharani from Vilavancode, and Nagesh Kumar from the Thalli seat.

Polling for the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly is scheduled for April 23, and the counting of votes will take place on May 4.

The party has retained three sitting MLAs, renominating senior leader M R Gandhi from Nagercoil. Party president Nainar Nagenthran, who won from the Tirunelveli constituency in the 2021 election, has been fielded from Sattur.

Vanathi Srinivasan, who defeated actor-politician Kamal Haasan from Coimbatore South, has been nominated from Coimbatore North.