West Bengal Assembly polls: TMC election panel to meet, list of candidates likely today
- Post the meeting, TMC supremo Banerjee will likely announce the candidate list for all 294 seats for the West Bengal Assembly polls
Ahead of Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Election Committee meeting is scheduled to be held today at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kolkata, according to a PTI report.
Post the meeting, TMC supremo Banerjee will likely announce the candidate list for all 294 seats for the West Bengal Assembly polls, the report added.
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The West Bengal Chief Minister had on January 18 announced that she would contest from Nandigram as well as Bhowanipur seats.
On February 20, the incumbent TMC launched the slogan for the polls -- "Bangla nijer meyekei chaye" (Bengal wants its own daughter).
The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal.
Meanwhile, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also discussed the candidates for two phases of the Assembly elections for West Bengal and Assam. The party is likely to announce the list of candidates for both states soon.
In the meeting held yesterday, the candidates for 84 seats were discussed and finalised, sources said adding that the candidate list is likely to be announced soon after a problem with the alliance partners is sorted out.
In yesterday's meeting, CEC also discussed the candidate list for the first two phases of seats in West Bengal were discussed and finalised.
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West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left-Indian Secular Front (ISF) alliance and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the fray.
While Mamata Banerjee is seeking her third consecutive term, BJP has set a target of winning 200 seats in the 294-member state Assembly.
In 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, out of the 294 seats, Congress had managed to win 44 seats while the Left Front bagged 33 seats. The ruling TMC secured 211 seats and the BJP had won 3 seats.
The BJP made deep inroads in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats and reducing TMC's tally to 22. Out of the total 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, Congress won two seats, the Left drew a blank.
After BJP's performance in the 2019 polls, several TMC leaders have joined the party led by JP Nadda.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes in the state will take place on May 2.
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