"I'm honoured, happy," says Rajeev Chandrashekhar on announcement of his candidature for LS polls

New Delhi [India], March 2 : Soon after the BJP's announcement of his candidature from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram constituency for the Lok Sabha polls, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar on Saturday said that he was honoured and happy.
"I'm very honoured and excited. After 18 years of public life and serving in Rajya Sabha, this is the first opportunity that I have got to contest in the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister, the Home Minister and our party president have chosen to field me as their candidate in the capital of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram the state I belong to, the state my family belongs to," Chandrashekhar told ANI.
"This is the campaign I look forward to, the campaign I will start very shortly. I will confront the vital issues of the people of Trivandrum," he added.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandraskhekar has been fielded against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, which is being considered significant as BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 drew a blank in Kerala.
This is the first time that Chandrashekhar has been fielded for Lok Sabha polls. He also served as a national spokesperson of BJP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today announced its first list of 195 candidates focussing on major names including--Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Rajeev Chandrashekhar.
Of 195 candidates, 34 are central and state ministers while two are former Chief Ministers who have appeared on the list.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju will contest from Arunachal West while Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has been fielded from Assam's Dibrugarh.
Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti has been fielded from Fatehpur.
Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is set to contest from Bikaner; Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav will contest from Alwar; Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will contest from Jodhpur; Union Minister Kailash Choudhary to contest from Barmer and Rajasthan BJP President CP Joshi is to contest from Chittorgarh.
BJP MP Bishnu Pada Ray will contest from Andaman and Nicobar; MP Tapir Gao will contest from Arunachal East and BJP MP Hema Malini has again been fielded from Mathura.
Meanwhile, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla has been again fielded from Rajasthan's Kota, which he has been representing since 2014.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest from Varanasi, where the BJP is dominant since 2014.
The announcement of the candidate list follows a marathon meeting of the central election committee (CEC) of the BJP in the early hours of Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP's National President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh, Chief Ministers, State Presidents, In-charges, Co-Incharges, and Election In-charges of various states were present in this meeting. Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Goa were present at the meeting.
Earlier in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi secured a victory in Varanasi with 6,74,664 votes against Congress's Ajay Rai.
The BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.