Bengal polls: Three TMC, one BJP candidate among five to test COVID positive ahead of fifth phase

KOLKATA: At least five candidates of different parties contesting the ongoing assembly election in West Bengal have tested positive for COVID-19, a health department official said on Friday.

Out of the five candidates who tested positive, three are from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and one each from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said.

RSP's Jangipur candidate, 73-year-old Pradip Kumar Nandi, tested positive on Wednesday and is now in home isolation, the official said.

BJP's candidate for Matigara-Naxalbari seat Anandamay Barman (38), TMC's Goalpokhar nominee Mohmmed Ghulam Rabbani, Tapan candidate Kalpana Kisku, and Jalpaiguri candidate Dr. Pradip Kumar Barma have tested COVID-19 positive, the health official said.

According to an official at the CEO, "The candidates who tested positive must immediately stop campaigning.

Either they should isolate themselves at their homes or get themselves hospitalised depending on severity of the infection," he said.

Congress nominee from Samsherganj assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, Rezaul Haque, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died at a hospital here early on Thursday.