WB Polls: TMC Unveils Candidates; Mamata to Contest From Nandigram

The party has announced candidates for all 294 seats going to polls.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday, 5 March, released its candidate list for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls. The party announced its candidates from 291 seats in the state. There are a total of 294 seats in the state Assembly.

Three seats in North Bengal – Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong – have been left for the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) to field candidates that they see fit.

The first phase of the elections is scheduled for 27 March.

West Bengal Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that she will be contesting from the high-profile Nandigram seat in the Purba Midnapore district. In the last Assembly election, Mamata had contested from the Bhowanipore constituency in Kolkata.

The Nandigram seat was won by former Trinamool minister and the BJP's star acquisition this election season, Suvendu Adhikari, and is part of his home turf.

When asked if this is a tough election, the chief minister dismissed the question.

"This is a smiley election," she said.

"I don't go back on my word," she further added, referring to her announcement that she will contest the seat at a rally in Nandigram a few weeks ago.

The Trinamool has also fielded a long list of celebrity faces consisting of members from the Bengali film industry and sports. Most of these names joined the party recently, over the last few weeks.

Actor Saayoni Ghosh has been fielded from Asansol South in West Bardhaman district, while actor Kanchan Mullick has been fielded from Uttarpara in Hooghly.

June Maliah and Sayantika Banerjee, also actors, are going to be contesting from Medinipur and Bankura respectively.

Film director Raj Chakraborty will contest from Barrackpore.

That apart, cricketer Manoj Tiwary has been fielded from the Shibpur constituency in Howrah.

The party also announced that they haven't fielded candidates over 80 years of age due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Owing to this, present state Finance Minister Amit Mitra, will not be contesting this election.

Around 27 percent of the candidates are from the scheduled caste. 11 SC candidates are contesting from non-reserved SC seats. 15 percent of the candidates are Muslim, while 6 percent are from the scheduled tribe.

However, compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where about 41 percent of the TMC's candidates were women, the party has fielded only 51 female candidates this time – about 18 percent.

The results of the West Bengal elections will be announced on 2 May.