Vince Cable, a former business minister in the coalition government who was voted out in the 2015 general election, has announced his intention to run in his old seat of Twickenham in west London.
But analysts have said the chances are weak - chiefly because the Liberal Democrats would probably not want to ally with a struggling Labour Party, which is also deeply divided over its current leader.
Opinion polls put the Conservatives, who now hold 330 of parliament's 650 seats, way ahead of Labour with 229.
Some opinion polls have the Conservative Party a whopping 20 percentage points ahead of the main opposition Labour Party.
Britain's second female prime minister, who took over last summer following her predecessor David Cameron's failure to convince voters to back the European Union, also appears to have won strong popular support for her handling of the political quake unleashed by Brexit.
The Telegraph reflected the nation's surprise at the imminent election: "May's bolt from the blue".
Speaking at an election rally in Bolton last night, Mrs May said: 'Give me the mandate to fight for Britain and give me the mandate to deliver for Britain'.
That approach has left neither of the party's key constituencies particularly happy.
Though May has been cautious in detailing her Brexit aspirations, traders think a big victory for her in the election could give her ammunition in dealing with those within her own Conservative Party who are urging a complete, "hard" divorce from the European Union even if that means new tariffs and an exclusion from the bloc's huge single market.
An enhanced Parliamentary majority would also make it harder, she said, for those trying to frustrate her Brexit strategy.
Australia abolishes visa programme used largely by Indians
In a video posted on Facebook , the PM said the changes would be about putting Australians first. Skilled migrants from India make up about a quarter of 457 visa holders.
May called for an early general election on Tuesday.
He added: "Winning an election will strengthen her position and it means there would be no cliff-edge with a general election hanging over her at the end of the negotiations".
Like nearly everyone else in Britain, the election announcement caught financial markets off guard, amid concerns of the economic implications of Brexit.
The House of Commons can pave the way for an early vote by approving it with a two-thirds majority, or it can defeat the prime minister in a vote of confidence and have that result stand for two weeks.
Rather ironically, May initially stated that she would not call an election so as to avoid creating further uncertainty when stability was needed so urgently.
May explained her policy U-turn with an attack on her domestic political opponents, many of whom support Britain's continued membership of Europe's single market, accusing them of "game-playing" over Brexit. "Now we will be much freer", she told The Sun.
For Scotland's First Minister, Ms Nicola Sturgeon, the move was a "huge political miscalculation" that could help the Scottish National Party's (SNP's) efforts to hold an independence vote, reported Reuters.
The fear of future economic damage has been reflected mainly in the pound's weakness since the initial shock of the Brexit result last June, which saw the currency tank from the $1.50 mark to 32-year lows around $1.20.
The Prime Minister is set to include pledges that will lock party members and peers into backing her stance as the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union.
An early election would, therefore, be the fourth big vote in four years after the general election of 2015.
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