BJP's First List for 2024 Lok Sabha Polls: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections is out, consisting of names of party’s top brass leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself along with Union Minister Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani. Among the names of several prominent faces, the BJP’s list features the name of Abdul Salam, the only Muslim candidate, who will be contesting from the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s first list has taken everyone by surprise, triggering a political analysis and debates over the candidates picked by the party for the upcoming polls. Among the candidates, who are being highly discussed in the political arena is Abdul Salam.

Abdul Salam is former-Vice Chancellor of Calicut University

He had joined the BJP in 2019 and also contested in the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections from the Nemom Assembly constituency on the party’s ticket.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Calicut University, Abdul Salam is now all set to take on the Congress and the left candidate from the Malappuram constituency in Kerala and is eyeing on winning the seat for the party. The seat has for long been considered as a safe constituency for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidates, who have managed to register a win ever since the constituency came into existence. The only time the IUML lost the seat was in 2004 against a CPI candidate.

Abdul Salam, who hails from Kerala’s Tirur district, boasts an impressive academic and professional background. Apart from serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the Calicut University, he has significant contributions in Biological Sciences. As many as 153 research papers, 15 review articles, and 13 books written by Salam has been published.

He is among 12 BJP candidates along with V Muraleedharan, Rajiv Chandrasekhar, Anil Antony, Suresh Gopi, MT Ramesh, Prafulla Krishna and others featured in the party’s list for Kerala. The party is yet to declare candidates on 8 remaining seats in the state.