The candidature of major political parties in Kerala for the upcoming byelections was completed on Saturday when the BJP announced its three picks.
C Krishnakumar, BJP's former state general secretary, will contest the Assembly bypoll in Palakkad. In the other vacant Assembly seat in Chelakkara, the BJP has named a lesser-known candidate in K Balakrishnan, who was the former president of the Thiruvilvamala grama panchayat.
For the bypoll to the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, BJP has fielded its Mahila Morcha leader Navya Haridas. The former Kozhikode Corporation councillor will be up against Congress ace Priyanka Gandhi and CPM's Sathyan Mokeri.
Krishnakumar, the seniormost of the three BJP candidates, will face tough contest from Congress' young leader Rahul Mamkoottathil and the rebel P Sarin, who has been named as the LDF candidate.
The BJP would be hoping to cash in on K Balakrishnan's local support in Chelakkara, where the Congress has lined up former MP Ramya Haridas and the CPM has fielded U R Pradeep. Balakrishnan is now the vice-president of the Thiruvilvamala panchayat.
The byelections will take place on November 13 and the counting of votes is scheduled for November 23.
