BJP’s candidates for phase 3 & 4: several MPs, Trinamool defectors, actors

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced its list of candidates for the third and fourth phase of Assembly elections in Bengal. Names of 36 candidates were announced today, though 75 seats will go to the polls in these two phases.

A number of MPs have been fielded as candidates. This includes Babul Supriyo, Locket Chatterjee, Swapan Dasgupta, Nishith Pramanik. Babul Supriyo is candidate from Tollygunje, Locket Chatterjee from Chinsurah, Nishith Pramanik from Dinhata and Swapan Dasgupta from Tarakeswar.

Trinamool Congress leaders who recently joined the BJP – like Rajib Banerjee, Prabir Ghoshal, Dipak Haldar and Rabindranath Bhattacharya, have been fielded as candidates too. All of them have been made candidates from seats from where they had contested earlier – Domjur, Uttarpara, Diamond Harbour and Singur.

Several actors too have made candidates – those like Tanushree, Yash Dasgupta, Payel Sarkar and so on. The Trinamool Congress candidate from Behala East is Ratna Chatterjee, the estranged wife of sitting MLA Sovon Chatterjee who has now joined the BJP. After Ratna’s name was announced by Trinamool, Sovon Chatterjee said that he was interested in fighting against her. However, the BJP today announced Payel Sarkar as the candidate from Behala East constituency.

Rantideb Sengupta meanwhile, went public saying he would not like to contest elections from any seat, and he had been nominated by the party without informing him about it.

In the third phase, elections are scheduled in 31 seats in parts of Howrah, South 24 Parganas and Hooghly. Election is scheduled on April 6 and includes seats like Basanti, Kultali, Kulpi, Raidighi, Baruipur Purba, Baruipur Paschim, Joynagar, Canning, Diamond Harbour, Falta, Shyampur, Amta, Dhanekhali, Tarakeswar, Pursurah, Jangipara, Goghat, and so on.

In Phase four, elections will be held in parts of Howrah, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar, in 44 seats. Election is scheduled on April 10, and includes seats such as Dinhata, Kalchini, Mekliganj, Sitai, Sitalkuchi, Sonarpur Dakshin, Bhangar, Kasba, Tollygunje, Jadavpur, Shibpur, Behala Purba, Behala Paschim, among others.

Some key candidates:

*Rantideb Sengupta (Howrah Dakshin)

*Ashok Lahiri (Alipurduar)

*Rajib Bandopadhyay (Domjur)

*Rabindranath Bhattacharya (Singur)

*Swapan Dasgupta (Tarakeshwar)

*Nishith Pramanick (Dinhata)

*Babul Supriyo (Tollygunje)

*Yash Dasgupta (Chanditala)

*Payel Sarkar (Behala East)

*Rabin Sardar (Joynagar)

*Indranil Khan (Kasba)

*Anjana Basu (Sonarpur Dakshin)

*Tanushree Chakraborty (Shyampur)

*Locket Chatterjee (Chinsurah)

*Sukumar Roy (Cooch Behar Uttar)

*Rinku Naskar (Jadavpur)

*Biman Ghosh (Purshura)

*Debjit Sarkar (Jangipara)

*Prabir Ghoshal (Uttarpara)