West Bengal Assembly elections | BJP releases first list of 57 candidates

Suvendu Adhikari will be pitted against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram constituency.

The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates for the West Bengal Assembly polls.

Nandigram Assembly seat in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipour district all set for mega political contest with the BJP nominating Suvendu Adhikari to take on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

This comes a day after Trinamool Congress candidate list had revealed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest from Nandigram, instead of Bhawanipur in Kolkata. 

Soon after the announcement on Saturday evening the BJP supporters in Nandigram came out on the streets in support of Mr Adhikari. From early morning the BJP have started wall graffiti with Mr Adhikari’s name as the BJP candidate. The Trinamool Congress supremo is expected to arrive in Nandigram on March 9 and will file her nomination papers on March 11.

The constituency will go to polls in the second phase on April 1. Nandigram came into the prominence in March 2007, when 14 villagers were killed in police firing and subsequent violence while protesting against forcible land accusation by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led- Left Front government. Both Ms Banerjee and Mr Adhikari were the most prominent faces to lead the fight against the Left regime.

BJP vice president Mukul Roy (left) with party’s general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya release video CDs for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections, in Kolkata on March 6, 2021. | Photo Credit: PTI

 

Of the 60 Assembly seats that will go to polls in the first two phases, the BJP on Saturday announced list of 57 candidates. This included former IPS officer and West Bengal BJP vice president Bharati Ghosh who will contest from Debra Assembly seat and former cricketer Ashok Dinda from Moyna Assembly seat. 

Of the 57 seats the BJP has left one seat  Baghmundi in Purulia district to its ally AJSU ( All Jharkhand Students Union). The party is yet to announce candidates for three seats that will be going to polls in the first second phase on March 27 and April 1 respectively.

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