L. Murugan; Nainaar Nagenthran | Photo credit: S. Siva Saravanan; A. Shaikmohideen
After days of tension, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the arm of the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu, on Friday (April 3, 2026) released the list of all 27 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
As widely expected, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan is entering the fray from the Avanashi (Reserved) Assembly segment. In the previous assembly polls, Mr. Murugan unsuccessfully contested from the Dharapuram (Reserved) segment.
BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran is entering the fray from Sattur assembly segment in Virudhunagar district, shifting from his home turf Tirunelveli. Mr. Nagenthran contested five times from the Tirunelveli constituency and emerged successfully three times – twice on an AIADMK ticket and once as a BJP candidate.
Former BJP State President and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is contesting from Mylapore Assembly segment in Chennai. This is the fourth time he is entering the fray in the assembly elections in the state.
BJP Mahila Morcha national president and sitting Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, who defeated Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Haasan by a slim margin, is contesting from Coimbatore North this time, while S. Vijayadharani, who was in the Congress and defected to the BJP, won the Vilavan ticket.
Other candidates include M. Rajasimha Mahindra from Avadi, Nagesh Kumar from Thalli, C. Elumalai from Tiruvannamalai, SD Premkumar from Rasipuram (Reserved), Krithika Shivkumar from Modakurichi, Bhojarajan from Udhagamandalam, S. Thangarajouth Tirupovipur (S. Chandru from Tiruvarur and M. Muruganandam from Thanjavur.
C. Udhayakumar will contest from Gandharvakottai (reserved), N. Ramachandran from Pudukottai and Kavitha Srikanth, state president of the BJP women’s wing, from Aranthangi. KC Thirumaran, who leads the South Indian Forward Bloc, will contest from Tirupattur. Mon. V. Balaganapathy will contest from Manamadurai (Reserved), Raama Sreenivasan from Madurai South, GBS K. Nagendran from Ramanathapuram, Ananthan Ayyaswamy from Vasudevanallur (Reserved), KRM Radhakrishnan from Tiruchendur, SP Balakrishnan from Radhapuram, TMR, Smarivagerhi, incumbent Colachel and P. Ramesh from Padmanabhapuram.
Annamalai was taken aback
The name of former BJP state president K. Annamalai was not in the list. After the recent allocation of constituencies by the AIADMK, it has become clear that he has no seat that is considered “favorable” for him. Still, there has been speculation in recent days about a likely reshuffle of the constituency to accommodate Mr. Annamalai. However, it did not bear fruit.
In a post on X congratulating the candidates, Mr. Annamalai said, “I as a Karyakarta will stand shoulder to shoulder and campaign for all our winning BJP and other NDA candidates to win 210 NDA seats in the upcoming assembly elections.”
Published – 03 Apr 2026 14:57 IST
