Telangana Assembly Elections: BJP releases third list with 35 names

BJP has released third list of candidates for the ensuing Assembly Elections in the State with 35 names.

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its third list, this time with 35 candidates for the upcoming election to the State assembly. The party had released names of 52 candidates in the list, while the second list had one name. With Thursday’s list, the total number of candidates announced has reached 88.

Sources in the party said the candidates for the remaining constituencies would be announced shortly after holding discussions with actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan‘s Jana Sena Party (JSP), which has forged an alliance with the BJP.

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The names of the candidates were finalised at the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting chaired by party national president JP Nadda and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday in New Delhi. The BJP has allotted 14 seats to Backward Classes, while Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were given five and three seats respectively. The Reddy community was given 11 seats, while Brahmin and Velama communities were given one seat each. The third list had only one woman candidate in the form of Challa Srilatha Reddy from Huzurnagar.

In the first list, out of 52 candidates, 20 were BCs, 12 were women, while SCs and STs were allotted 14 seats each. The Velama community was given 5 seats.

Prominent BJP leaders who secured tickets in the third list included former ministers C Krishna Yadav (Amberpet), Marri Shashidhar Reddy (Sanathnagar), Chittaranjan Das (Jadcherla), former legislators Endala Laxminarayan (Banswada), NVVS Prabhakar (Uppal) and KS Ratnam (Chevella,SC). Interestingly, former minister P Babu Mohan, who recently announced that he would not contest the assembly polls this time, was allotted the Andole (SC) seat. Former RTC JAC convenor Ashwathama Reddy was allotted the Wanaparthy seat.

Former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who was not so keen to contest the assembly polls did not figure in the list. Former minister and BJP national vice president DK Aruna had already announced that she would not be contesting the polls this time. Constituencies such as Sherlingampally, Kukatpally and a few others which the Jana Sena had an eye on were not included in the list.

Jana Sena Alliance:

As part of a poll alliance with Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena, the BJP has reserved a few seats. The two parties would take a decision after Pawan Kalyan returned from his foreign trip on Friday. The BJP is likely to allot six seats to Jana Sena.

3rd List: