Kerala Assembly Elections 2026| BJP's first list of candidates reflect attempts to woo Christian vote banks

While union minister George Kurian is fielded at Kanjirapally, BJP state general secretary Anoop Antony Joseph has been fielded from Thiruvalla.

Thiruvananthapuram: As the BJP announced the first list of 47 candidates for the Kerala Assembly Elections 2026 on Monday (March 16), the party's efforts to woo the Christian vote banks was quite evident.

While union minister of state for minority affairs and Rajya Sabha member George Kurian is fielded at Kanjirapally in Kottayam, which is a Christian stronghold, former leaders of regional party Kerala Congress and former MLA P C George and his son Shone George are fielded  at Christian strongholds of Poonjar and Pala in Kottayam district respectively.

BJP state general secretary Anoop Antony Joseph has been fielded at Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta, which is also a Christian stronghold.

Former defence minister and senior Congress leader A K Antony's son Anil K Antony, who contested as BJP candidate at Pathanamthitta in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, is yet to figure in the list of candidates. He is now serving as BJP national secretary and state in charge of BJP Meghalaya and BJP Nagaland.

Meanwhile, former chief minister and Congress leader K Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal, who joined the BJP in 2024, has been fielded from Thrissur. 

The seven women candidates in the first list of candidates also include ex-DGP and first woman IPS officer R Sreelekha from Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram and firebrand leader Sobha Surendran from Palakkad.

BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar had already announced his candidacy at Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram, the seat that the party won for the first time in 2016, but lost in 2021. 

Former minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan at Kazhakoottam in Thiruvananthapuram and ex state president K Surendran at Manjeshwar in Kasargod are among the other prominent candidates.

A celebrity face among the BJP candidates is retired army officer and filmmaker-actor Major Ravi. He is fielded by the party at Ottapalam in Palakkad. 

Dissidents from rival camps too found a place in the first list. While former CPI(M) MLA K Ajith, who joined the BJP recently, will contest from Vaikom in Kottayam, former Mahila Congress leader R Reshmi, who recently joined BJP, will contest from Kottarakkara. 

Meanwhile, CPI sitting MLA C C Mukundan, who recently left the party over denial of sitting seat Nattika in Thrissur,  joined the BJP on Monday. He is likely to be fielded by the BJP.

BJP state president told reporters that the BJP would win several seats in Kerala  as the people  were fed up with the LDF-UDF rule over these years and were eagerly looking for NDA as the alternative. 

BJP has been making all out efforts to woo the Christian community with party national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, holding deliberations with church heads and giving favourable assurances to their grievances. But the back to back incidents of attack towards Christian priests at various places by Sangh Parivar activists remain as setback to the BJP's Christian outreach efforts. Chrisitian community constitutes over 18 percent of Kerala's population and are decisive vote banks of several parts of central Kerala.

According to political analyst Jacob George, even as a section of bishops used to back the BJP, those were unlikely to influence the Christian voters. The attack on priests and nuns at several places is a key issue. Many churches are also concerned over the BJP government tightening the regulations on receiving foreign funds, he said.

He also added that the BJP was giving more thrust to development agenda these days in Kerala, which could be a bid to cover up their Hindutva agendas.