Kottayam: Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a major ally of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Kerala has announced candidates for four seats in the general elections. BDJS national president Thushar Vellappally will contest from Kottayam seat. 

Addressing the media here on Saturday, Thushar Vellappally made the official announcement. BDJS will field Adv Sangeetha Viswanathan in Idukki. As rumoured earlier, Baiju Kalasala and KA Unnikrishnan will contest from Mavelikkara and Chalakkudy respectively. 

Earlier, it was reported that BDJS will name former MLA Mathew Stephan as its candidate for Idukki seat. But the party took an unexpected move by declaring Sangeetha Viswanathan as its candidate for this crucial seat. 

In Kottayam, Thushar Vellappally will have a tough battle with LDF's Thomas Chazhikkadan and UDF's Francis George.

As the Election Commission is all set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, NDA released the names of its candidates for 16 out of 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala. Wayanad, Alathur, Ernakulam and Kollam are the four seats where NDA is yet to confirm its candidates.
List of NDA candidates are as follows:

1. Palakkad: C Krishnakumar
2. Thrissur: Suresh Gopi
3. Chalakkudy: KA Unnikrishnan
4. Alappuzha: Sobha Surendran 
5. Kottayam: Thushar Vellappally
6. Idukki: Sangeetha Viswanathan
7. Pathanamthitta: Anil Antony 
8. Thiruvananthapuram: Rajeev Chandrasekhar 
9. Mavelikkara: Baiju Kalasala
10. Kozhikode: MT Ramesh 
11. Malappuram: Dr Abdul Salam
12. Ponnani: Nivedita Subrahmanian
13. Attingal: V Muralidharan
14. Vadakara: Praful Krishna
15. Kannur: C Raghunath
16. Kasaragod: ML Ashwini