Kerala BJP state unit chief K Surendran.
Credit: PTI Photo
Kochi: BJP state chief K Surendran, who is also the NDA candidate pitted against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, has 242 criminal cases against him.
As part of the statutory requirements, Surendran had recently published the details of his cases in the party mouthpiece which ran for three full pages.
Similarly, the saffron party's Ernakulam constituency candidate K S Radhakrishnan has around 211 cases against him.
"Most of the cases are related to Sabarimala protests which were held in 2018. Most of the cases are in court. When party leaders call for a strike or a protest, the police register a case in connection with that," George Kurian, the state general secretary of the BJP told PTI.
He said it's mandatory to publish the details of the cases against the candidates.
Meanwhile, BJP national general secretary B L Santhosh on Friday tweeted details of the cases against Surendran, Radhakrishnan, the party's Alappuzha candidate Shobha Surendran and Vatakara candidate Praful Krishna and said it was "hard to be a nationalist in some parts of Bharath."
"It’s hard to be a nationalist in some parts of Bharath. It's everyday struggle. But it's worth the struggle. Form C7 of Sri @surendranbjp, WAYANAD candidate. One person…Hundreds of cases," Santhosh posted on X.
Giving a breakdown of the number of cases against the BJP state chief, Kurian said 237 cases were related to Sabarimala protests while five were registered in connection with various agitations in Kerala.
The BJP and affiliated parties had organised statewide protests in 2018 against the Kerala government's decision to implement the Supreme Court order on women's entry to the hilltop Sabarimala shrine in Pathanamthitta district.
The case details of other party candidates are yet to come out.
The last date for filing nominations for the Lok Sabha elections is April 4. Scrutiny will be conducted on April 5 while the last date for withdrawing nominations is April 8.
As of today, the Election Commission has received 18 nominations. Left candidate M Mukesh from Kollam and BJP candidate from Kasaragod, Ashwini M L are prominent names who have filed their nominations.