The first list of Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) candidates contesting the Assembly election is finally out with 52 names cleared by the central election committee under the presidentship of Jagat Prakash Nadda and also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and all other members of the committee on October 22.
As was expected, former State party president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar will be contesting from the Karimnagar constituency and former Minister and election campaign coordination committee chairman Eatala Rajender will be taking on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Gajwel besides his own constituency of Huzurabad. Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind will be contesting from Koratla and Adilabad MP Soyam Babu Rao from Boath.
Goshamahal MLA T. Raja Singh, whose suspension was revoked a short while ago, will be contesting from the same constituency. Incidentally, he was the only MLA elected from the party in the 2018 election. Dubbak MLA M. Raghunandan Rao who won a byelection, will be contesting from the same constituency, while former MLA Chintala Ramchandra Reddy will be once again trying his luck from the Khairatabad constituency. Another noted candidate is the elder brother of BRS Minister Erraballi Dayakar Rao, Erraballi Pradeep Rao getting a ticket for Warangal East.
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Other names cleared by the central committee are: Sirpur Dr. Palvai Harish Babu, Bellampalli (SC) Amarajula Sridevi, Khanapur (ST) Ramesh Rathod, Adilabad Payal Shankar, Nirmal Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, Mudhole Ramarao Patel, Armur Paidi Rakesh Reddy, Jukkal (SC) T. Aruna Tara, Kamareddy K. Venkata Ramana Reddy, Nizamabad Urban Dhanpal Suryanaryana Gupta, Balkonda Annapurnamma Aleti. Jagtial Dr. Boga Sravani, Dharmapuri (SC) S. Kumar, Ramagundam Kandula Sandhya Rani, Choppadandi (SC) Bodiga Shobha, Sircilla Rani Rudrama Reddy, Manakondur (SC) Arepalli Mohan, Narsapur Erragolla Murali Yadav, Patancheru T. Nandhishwar Goud, Dubbak Madavaneni Raghunandan Rao, Quthbullapur Kuna Srisailam Goud, Ibrahimpatnam Nomula Dayanand Goud, Maheshwaram Andela Ramulu Yadav.
Karwan Amar Singh, Charminar Megha Rani, Chandrayangutta Satyanarayana Mudiraj, Yakutpura Veerender Yadav, Bahdurpura Y. Naresh Kumar, Kalwakurthy Thalloju Achary, Kollapur Shri Aelleni Sudhakar Rao, Nagarjuna Sagar Lankanala Niveditha Reddy, Suryapet Sankineni Venkateshwar Rao. Bhongir Gudur Narayana Reddy.
Thungathurthy (SC) Kadiyam Ramchandraiah, Jangaon D. Arutla Dashmanth Reddy, Ghanpur Station (SC) Dr. Gunde Vijaya Ramarao, Palakurthi Lega Ramohan Reddy, Dornakal (ST) Bhukya Sangeetha, Mahabubabad (ST) Jathoth Hussain Naik, Warangal West Rao Padma, Warangal East Errabelli Pradeep Rao, Wardhannapet (SC) Kondeti Sridhar, Bhupalpalle Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy, Yellandu (ST) Ravindra Naik and Bhadrachalam (ST) Kunja Dharma Rao, according to an official release by national general secretary Arun Singh.
As assured prominence was given to Backward Classes candidates with 19 fielded of whom two were women. The forward castes got 19 seats of which 12 belong to the dominant Reddy community. Among the forward castes one seat was given to the Vysha community and another to Agarwal community.
The first list also had eight Scheduled Castes and six Scheduled Tribes. Over all, 12 women candidates found a place in the first list.
