News Brief
Contest In Wayanad Becomes Tripolar As BJP Fields Kerala President Surendran Against Sitting Congress MP Rahul Gandhi
K Surendran with PM Narendra Modi
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kerala president K Surendran is set to challenge Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled in the state for 26 April.
This will be Surendran's fourth Lok Sabha contest since 2009. In 2009 and 2014, he contested from Kasargod and from Pathanamthitta in 2019 where he came third behind Congress and CPI(M).
He has also contested four Assembly elections. In 2021, he contested from two constituencies, Konni and Manjeswaram, but lost both. In 2016, he lost by a margin of a mere 89 votes in Manjeshwaram.
He has been the BJP's state president since 2020 and started his political career with Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. He alleged Rahul Gandhi is aware of the fake voter ID cards issue.
Rahul Gandhi won the 2019 elections in Wayanad by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. This constituency has been a Congress bastion since its formation after the 2008 delimitation.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has declared Annie Raja as its candidate from Wayanad under the alliance of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Annie Raja is CPI General Secretary D Raja's wife and the national mahila samakhya general secretary of CPI. This makes the contest now tripolar in this Kerala constituency.
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