Kolkata, 16 March (H.S.): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced its first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections, fielding several sitting MLAs while introducing a few new faces.
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, will contest from two seats — Nandigram and Bhabanipur. Former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh has once again been fielded from the Kharagpur Sadar constituency.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta has been nominated from the Rashbehari seat in Kolkata.
In Howrah district, actor-turned-politician Rudranil Ghosh has been fielded from the Shibpur assembly constituency. Sajal Ghosh has been named the party’s candidate from Baranagar, while Umesh Rai will contest from Howrah North.
Party sources said most of the sitting BJP MLAs have been retained in the first list, leading to the dominance of familiar faces. However, a few changes have been made. Sitting MLA Ashok Lahiri has not been renominated from Balurghat, and Bidyut Roy has been fielded instead.
Similarly, Goghat MLA Biswanath Karak and Arambagh MLA Madhusudan Bag have not been given tickets this time. The party has fielded Prashanta Digar and Hemanta Bag from these constituencies respectively.
Among sitting MLAs, Agnimitra Paul has been renominated from Asansol South, Chandana Bauri from Saltora in Bankura, Shikha Chatterjee from Dabgram–Fulbari in Jalpaiguri, and Malati Rava Roy from Tufanganj in Cooch Behar.
BJP’s chief whip in the state assembly Shankar Ghosh has been renominated from Siliguri. Pawan Singh, son of BJP leader Arjun Singh, has again been fielded from Bhatpara.
Other sitting legislators who have been renominated include Sukumar Roy from Cooch Behar North, Manoj Oraon from Kumargram, Bishal Lama from Kalchini, Dipak Barman from Falakata and Puna Bhengra from Nagrakata.
The party has fielded its state OBC Morcha president Shubhendu Sarkar from Kumarganj in South Dinajpur. In Kaliyaganj of North Dinajpur, Utpal Maharaj has replaced sitting MLA Soumen Roy as the party’s candidate.
In Birbhum’s Suri constituency, BJP state vice-president Jagannath Chattopadhyay has been fielded for the second consecutive time.
In Murshidabad district, the party has renominated Subrata Maitra from Baharampur and Gaurishankar Ghosh from Murshidabad. Bharat Jhawar, a former chairman of Beldanga municipality and once considered close to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has been fielded from Beldanga.
Among others, MLAs Parthasarathi Chattopadhyay and Asim Biswas have been renominated from two Ranaghat seats, while former MLA Dipak Kumar Haldar will contest again from Diamond Harbour.
In Hooghly district, sitting MLAs Biman Ghosh and Sushanta Ghosh have been renominated from Pursurah and Khanakul respectively.
The BJP has also fielded former acting chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Arun Haldar from Jamalpur in Purba Bardhaman district.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey
