Daijiworld Media Network - Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 6: First woman IPS officer from Kerala and BJP state vice president R Sreelekha is likely to contest the upcoming Assembly elections from the Vattiyoorkavu constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, a seat where the saffron party is pinning high hopes.
Though the party is yet to make an official announcement, BJP leaders indicated that Sreelekha will soon launch the party’s election campaign in the Vattiyoorkavu constituency.
BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar had earlier announced that he would contest the Assembly polls from the Nemom seat in the state capital. He has already begun the party’s campaign there, even as the candidate for Vattiyoorkavu is yet to be formally declared.
Sreelekha, a 1987-batch IPS officer, retired in 2020 with the rank of Director General of Police. She joined the BJP in 2024 and was later appointed the party’s state vice president.
In the recent local body elections, she won as a councillor from the Sasthamangalam ward of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which falls under the Vattiyoorkavu Assembly constituency. Though she was considered a possible mayoral candidate, the party eventually selected V V Rajesh for the post citing his seniority and political experience.
Sreelekha was reportedly upset over being denied the mayor’s post and did not accompany BJP councillors from Thiruvananthapuram to a meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, citing health issues, though the move was widely interpreted as a sign of her displeasure.
The Vattiyoorkavu seat is currently held by CPM MLA and former city mayor V K Prasanth. The Congress is expected to field senior leader and former MLA K Muraleedharan, setting the stage for a keen contest in the constituency located in the heart of the city.
The BJP secured the lead in regions under the Vattiyoorkavu Assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the recent local body polls, raising the party’s hopes of making significant gains.
Similarly, in the neighbouring Nemom constituency, the BJP maintained a lead in the recent elections. Rajeev Chandrasekhar is banking on that momentum to wrest the seat, which the party had won for the first time in 2016 through O Rajagopal before losing it to CPM’s V Sivankutty in 2021.
Meanwhile, BJP sources indicated that former West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, who resigned from the post on Thursday, is unlikely to contest the elections. According to party insiders, the former Kerala cadre IAS officer is currently facing health issues and his equation with the party leadership is said to be strained.