BJP's Central Election Committee has approved the names of candidates on 57 seats for West Bengal Assembly elections: BJP General Secretary Arun Singh pic.twitter.com/ROwPNFuCNz
— ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2021
The party’s general secretary, Arun Singh announced the names of the candidates for the assembly elections out of which 6 candidates were given to women. 1 seat has been given to All Jharkhand Students Union.
BJP releases its first list of 57 candidates for West Bengal Assembly elections; allocates Baghmundi seat to AJSU pic.twitter.com/uhKz6ocEQQ
— ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2021
The polls will be conducted in 8 phases, beginning March 27 while the final phase will be held on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. There are a total of 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal.
Former Indian cricketer Ashoke Dinda and ex-IPS officer Bharati Ghosh are among the BJP candidates, party general secretary Arun Singh said at a press conference.
With this, the party has announced candidates for all but three of the 60 seats which will go to polls in the first two of the eight-phase elections. "Jungle raaj" prevails in the state, and voters have made up their mind to oust the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and elect the BJP to power, Singh claimed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address a rally in Kolkata's Brigade Parade ground on March 7, his first after the announcement of the poll dates.
On March 5, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) released the full list of its 291 candidates for the upcoming polls. Releasing the candidates' list, Mamata Banerjee announced that she will contest from Nandigram, against former close aide Suvendu Adhikari, who left the party and joined the BJP.
Nandigram, the site of protests against the Left government which had ignited a popular upsurge and catapulted the TMC to power in 2011, is set for one of the keenest electoral battles in the state with Banerjee taking on her former protegee and now BJP leader Adhikari.
Adhikari had won from the seat in 2016 and resigned recently before crossing over to the saffron party. Banerjee announced her candidature from the seat while leaving her traditional constituency of Bhowanipore in Kolkata.
(With Inputs from PTI)