TMC releases list of 291 candidates; Mamata to fight only from Nandigram

Several sitting MLAs have been dropped and new faces incorporated in Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s candidates list for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal. Party supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced the names of all TMC candidates for 291 seats.

The rest three seats – Kurseong, Kalimpong, and Darjeeling – will be contested by the Bimal Gurung faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). Elections to the 294-seat assembly will be held in eight phases from March 27 till April 29. The votes will be counted on May 2.

The TMC’s list emphasised on youths, minority, women and backward communities, and it featured 50 women candidates, 42 Muslims, 79 Scheduled Caste (SC), and 17 Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, according to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She said around 23-24 sitting MLAS have been dropped this time.

Banerjee said 69 seats are reserved for SC candidates but TMC has chosen 79 candidates, with 10 more in general seats. Exuding confidence of returning to power for the third time, she termed it as the “easiest” election the TMC has ever faced. “After we come to power we will create Vidhan Parishad to accomodate senior and experienced leaders,” she said.

Key points

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee will this time fight from Nandigram in Purba Medinipur, where her pro-peasants movement had helped her rise to power. She said she will file her nomination at Haldia at 3:30 PM on March 10. She will vacate her current Bhowanipore seat, which will be contested by her party colleague Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.

Prominent faces from the field of entertainment and sports, who recently joined the party, have also been given tickets. These include cricketer Manoj Tiwary (Shibpur), actress Sayoni Ghosh (Asansol Dakshin), filmmaker Raj Chakraborty (Barrackpore), actor Kanchan Mallick (Uttarpara), and actress June Malia (Medinipur), among others.

Ratna Chatterjee, the estranged wife of former Kolkata mayor and ex-TMC leader Sovan Chatterjee, has been fielded from Behala Purba. It is speculated that BJP will field Sovan from the same constituency, making it a husband vs wife contest.

Another BJP leader’s estranged wife has also been given ticket. Sujata Mondal Khan, the wife of Bishnupur MP and BJYM president Saumitra Khan, is in fray from Amarbagh seat.

The TMC has fielded Manoranjan Byapari, a prominent Dalit face in the world of literature, from Balagarh constituency in Hooghly district. 

Vivek Gupta, editor of Sanmarg newspaper, has been fielded from Jorasanko constituency in Kolkata, replacing sitting MLA Smita Bakshi.

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