Thrissur (Kerala) [India], March 21 (ANI): Ahead of the upcoming Kerala Assembly Elections, BJP candidate from Thrissur constituency Padmaja Venugopal on Saturday filed her nomination in the presence of Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel.

CM Patel was also present in the nomination filing process of BJP's Palakkad candidate Shobha Surendran, earlier in the day.

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Earlier today, Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajeev Chandrasekhar filed his nomination as the party's candidate from Nemom constituency, with Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma present in a show of support.

Adressing reporters, Chandrasekhar said that he is grateful, as accompanied by Bhajanlal Sharma, during the filing of nomination, stating that he will work hard for the development of Nemom.

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"I am deeply grateful to the Rajasthan CM who came here and accompanied & supported me during the filing of the nomination. I am also grateful to all the hundreds and thousands of workers who have accompanied me, people of Nemom and Thiruvananthapuram, who have accompanied me today. It fills my heart with great hope, affection and reinforces the responsibilities I am planning to take on. I can promise the people that if they give me an opportunity, I will work hard to solve all the problems, I will work hard to bring development to Nemom, and I will work hard 365 days a year, 24 hours a day to make Nemom a model constituency in Keralam," said Chandrasekhar.

The Rajasthan CM asserted that there is a lot of enthusiasm among BJP workers, and we are confident that we will achieve victory here.

"Today I have come to Kerala. I am seeing that there is enthusiasm and zeal among BJP workers... I can confidently say that a lot of new things are going to happen in Kerala. The BJP will perform very well here and achieve victory. The BJP will emerge here as a big party," said Sharma.

The BJP is positioning itself as a key challenger in Kerala, where the primary contest has traditionally been between the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). Both alliances are aiming to retain or regain power in the state.

Earlier on Friday, Union Minister Suresh Gopi stressed the need for a stronger National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presence in the Assembly, citing what he described as administrative failures over the past decade. He called for NDA candidates to secure victories across constituencies to ensure effective representation.

Polling for the Kerala Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with counting scheduled for May 4. The tenure of the current assembly is scheduled to end on May 23. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)