Abdul Salam is the sole Muslim candidate in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) initial list of 195 candidates. Abdul, who lost the Kerala assembly election from the 135 Nemom constituency in 2021, has been entrusted with the candidacy for the Lok Sabha polls from the Malappuram constituency.
Abdul, who joined the saffron party in 2019, hails from Tirur, Kerala. According to reports, until 2018, he had published 153 research papers, 15 review articles, and 13 books in Biological Sciences.
Abdul Salam served as the vice chancellor of Calicut University from 2011 to 2015. According to Live Hindustan report, he has disclosed net worth as ₹6.47 crore, and the report added that there are no registered criminal cases against him.
The BJP's first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala includes 12 candidates in the state, while the state sends 20 members to the lower house. Suresh Gopi, a prominent film actor, has been nominated for the Thrissur seat, and Anil Antony, son of former defence minister AK Antony, is fielded from Pathanamthitta. MT Ramesh is the BJP candidate from Kozhikode. Union minister of state Rajeev Chandrashekhar has been fielded from Thiruvananthapuram, where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is the current MP.
Notably, the name of BJP Kerala State Unit Chief K Surendran is absent from the 12-member list, and reports suggest he won't be contesting the upcoming elections.
