The BJP has released its third list of candidates, which contains nine names for Tamil Nadu, a state where it is yet to gain a foothold. The announcement comes on the heels of a seat sharing deal with a handful of smaller parties.

The BJP, which will contest 20 of the state’s 39 seats, has fielded former Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South, state party chief K Annamalai from Coimbatore, Union Minister L Murugun from Nilgiri and senior leaders Pon Radhakrishnan from Kanyakumari and Dr AC Shanmugam from Vellore.

The seat sharing deal announced earlier today, lists 20 seats for the BJP, 10 for PMK, 3 for TMC, 2 for AMMK, one each for IJK, NJP and two other smaller parties.

The equation evolved after the talks with former ally AIADMK fell through. Failing to make any headway in the state, the northern ally was considered a liability by most leaders in the state. What didn’t help were a series of fighting words from the state BJP chief.

Over the last weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned in AIADMK strongholds, making it clear that the  two parties were ready to go their separate ways.

On Wednesday, the AIADMK had released its first list of 16 candidates.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday moved a fresh plea in Delhi High Court, seeking no coercive action against him. The division bench, led by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, is set to hear the matter this morning. The Enforcement Directorate has so far issued nine summons to him liquor policy ‘scam’ case.On Wednesday, Kejriwal told the Delhi high court he won’t appear before the ED as there is a “clear intent” to arrest him with elections around the corner.

The accused, identified as Mohammad Rizwan Ashraf of Allahabad /Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Mohammed Arshad Warsi of Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and Mohammed Shahnawaz Alam of Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), were actively involved in promoting the anti-India agenda of the proscribed terror outfit