Senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan has filed his nomination papers from the Kazhakkuttom constituency for the Kerala Assembly elections 2026.
He is one of the prominent faces of the BJP in the state where the party aspires to strengthen its presence.
Voting for Kerala elections will take place in a single phase on April 9, and the results will be out on May 4.
Who is V Muraleedharan?
V Muraleedharan was born on December 12, 1958, in Kannur district, Kerala. He studied at Kodakkalam UP School and St Joseph's Higher Secondary School in Thalassery, then graduated in English literature from Government Brennen College, Thalassery. From his school days, he was actively involved with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.
Muraleedharan started his political career during the Emergency, between 1975 and 1977. Next year, he became the taluk president of ABVP in Thalassery, then Kannur district secretary in 1979, and state joint secretary of ABVP in 1980. Over the next 11 years, he worked closely with senior leaders such as KN Govindacharya and Dattatraya Hosabale.
In 1994, Muraleedharan moved to Mumbai when he was appointed All India General Secretary of ABVP, serving until 1996. He returned to Kerala in 1997 to work on a research project for the Khadi and Village Industries Commission in Thiruvanathapuram.
In 2004, he was appointed national convener of the BJP NGO cell, and in 2005, he became All India Convener of the BJP training cell. From 2006 to 2010, as the BJP Kerala vice president, he focused on training party workers and local body members. He also unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Kozhikode in 2009.
In January 2010, Muraleedharan was elected president of the Kerala BJP, and was re-elected for a second term in January 2013. He was sworn in as a Union Minister in May 2019, and shortly after, he was appointed deputy chief whip in the Rajya Sabha.
Muraleedharan served as Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs from 2019 to 2024.
