TMC announces all 42 Lok Sabha seats candidates in West Bengal

PTC News Desk: In a significant political move, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced its candidate list for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal on Sunday. The unveiling took place as TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee revealed the names while party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked alongside the nominees on a 300-ft-long ramp built on the rally ground—a spectacle possibly unprecedented in the state's political history.

Among the surprises in the candidate list was the inclusion of Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who will contest from Berhampore in Murshidabad district against incumbent Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress. Chowdhury, a vocal critic of Mamata Banerjee, has been representing the Berhampore seat since 1999, albeit with diminishing victory margins. Berhampore boasts Bengal's highest Muslim population, a factor that may influence the electoral dynamics.

Another unexpected entry was actor Rachana Banerjee, who will face off against Locket Chatterjee, a former actor and current BJP MP, in the Hooghly constituency. Speculations regarding Banerjee's candidacy arose when Mamata Banerjee appeared on "Didi No 1," a popular television show hosted by the actor.

While Mamata Banerjee fielded popular movie star Dipak Adhikari, known as Dev, from Ghatal, she notably did not renominate incumbent MPs Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty, both popular movie stars, from Basirhat and Jadavpur constituencies respectively.

The TMC also surprised many by nominating former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Prasun Banerjee from the Malda North constituency, a seat won by the BJP in 2019. Additionally, former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad, who joined the TMC after leaving the BJP, will contest from the Burdwan-Durgapur seat, which was won by the BJP's S.S. Ahluwalia in 2019.

During her brief speech at the rally, Mamata Banerjee announced TMC's plans to contest all 42 seats in West Bengal, as well as one seat in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). She also stated the party's intention to contest in Meghalaya and Assam as part of the opposition.

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Below is the revised list of TMC candidates:

Cooch Behar – Jagdish Chandra Basunia
Alipurduar – Prakash Chik Baraik (Rajya Sabha member)
Jalpaiguri – Nirmal Chandra Rai (MLA)
Darjeeling – Gopal Lama
Raiganj – Krishna Kalyani
Balurghat – Biplab Mitra (minister)
Malda North – Prasun Banerjee (former IPS officer)
Malda South – Shanawaz Ali Rehan
Jangipur – Khalilur Rehman
Berhampore – Yusuf Pathan (Indian cricketer)
Murshidabad – Abu Taher Khan
Krishnanagar - Mahua Moitra
Ranaghat – Mukut Mani Adhikari (BJP MLA)
Bangaon - Biswajit Das
Barrackpore – Partha Bhowmick (minister)
Dum Dum – Saugata Roy (MP)
Barasat - Kakali Ghosh Dastidar (MP)
Basirhat – Haji Nurul Islam
Joynagar – Pratima Mondal
Mathurapur – Bapi Haldar
Diamond Harbour – Abhishek Banerjee
Jadavpur- Saayoni Ghosh (youth TMC president)
Kolkata South – Mala Roy (MP)
Kolkata North – Sudip Bandopadhyay (MP)
Howrah- Prasun Banerjee (MP)
Uluberia- Sajda Ahmed
Srirampur – Kalyan Banerjee (MP)
Hooghly- Rachana Banerjee (film star)
Arambagh- Mitali Bagh
Tamluk – Debangshu Bhattacharya
Kanthi – Uttam Barik
Ghatal – Dipak Adhikari (MP)
Jhargram – Kalipada Soren
Midnapore – June Maliah (MLA)
Purulia – Shantiram Mahato
Bankura – Arup Chakraborty (MLA)
Bishnupur – Sujata Mondal Khan (incumbent BJP MP’s ex-wife)
Burdwan – Dr Sharmila Sarkar
Burdwan-Durgapur- Kirti Azad (ex- cricketer)
Asansol – Shatrughan Sinha (MP)
Bolur – Asit Mal (MP)
Birbhum – Shatabdi Roy (MP)

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(Inputs from agencies)