S Sreesanth to stand for Kerala Assembly elections from Thiruvananthapuram
Former India pacer S Sreesanth has been chosen by the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) to contest the party’s seat from Thiruvananthapuram. The cricketer joins 50 other candidates for the Kerala Assembly polls, as declared by the party.
The Central Election Committee(CEC) of the BJP said that the 33-year-old had joined the party and would contest from his home state capital. The cricketer was eager to stand for elections from Thrippunithara in Ernakulam district, but sources in the party said that they had already declared a candidate from that area.
Sreesanth had revealed on Tuesday that the party had offered him a ticket for Assembly elections that are slated to be held on May 16th.
In July last year, A Delhi court dropped charges against Sreesanth and 35 others accused, that also included his former teammates at Rajasthan Royals- Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, who were involved in the spot-fixing case that had rocked the Indian Premier League in 2013.
Speaking to reporters after being offered the ticket, Sreesanth said that he wasn't worried about the opposition attacking him with regards to the controversy since the Court had already cleared him of charges.
Sreesanth made his international debut for India in October 2005 and took 87 wickets in 27 Tests and 75 wickets in 53 ODIs. He was part of the side that won the 2007 World T20 in South Africa as well as the 2011 World Cup that was held in the sub-continent.