Tamil Nadu polls: BJP releases candidate list, drops K Annamalai amid seat row

CHENNAI: After confusion in candidate selection and protests from cadres over seat allocation, the BJP released a list of candidates for the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections on Friday. Former state president K Annamalai, whose candidature was under discussion, has not been given a ticket in this list.The party has fielded Tamilisai Soundararajan from Mylapore, Vanathi Srinivasan from Coimbatore (North), L Murugan from Avanashi (SC), and Nainar Nagendran from Sattur. Among others, M Rajasimha Mahindra has been named from Avadi, Nagesh Kumar from Thalli, C Elumalai from Tiruvannamalai, S D Premkumar from Rasipuram (SC), Kirthika Shivkumar from Modakkurichi, Bhojarajan from Udhagamandalam, S Thangaraj from Tiruppur (South), Govi Chandru from Thiruvarur, and M Muruganandam from Thanjavur.The list also includes C Udhayakumar from Gandharvakottai (SC), N Ramachandran from Pudukkottai, Kavitha Srikanth from Aranthangi, K C Thirumaran from Tiruppattur, Pon V Balaganapathy from Manamadurai (SC), Raama Sreenivasan from Madurai South, GBS K Nagendran from Ramanathapuram, KRM Radhakrishnan from Tiruchendur, Ananthan Ayyasamy from Vasudevanallur (SC), S P Balakrishnan from Radhapuram, M R Gandhi from Nagercoil, T Sivakumar from Colachel, P Ramesh from Padmanabhapuram, and S Vijayadharani from Vilavancode.