The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday, 14 March, released the names of over 60 candidates for the third and fourth phase of the eight-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal, including a Union minister and several sitting MPs elected in 2019.
Union Minister Babul Supriyo will contest from Tollygunge while Swapan Dasgupta is in the fray from the Tarakeshwar Assembly segment.
Actor-turned-politician and sitting MP Locket Chatterjee has been fielded from Chunchura and another sitting MP Nishit Parmanik from Dinhata.
The BJP has also fielded former chief economic adviser to the government Ashok Lahiri from the Alipurduar seat.
A number of film personalities will also be contesting on BJP ticket, including actor Tanushree Chakraborty from Shyampur and Anjana Basu in Sonarpur Dakshin. Basu will take on another actor and TMC leader Lovely Moitra in the constituency.
Additionally, actor Payel Sarkar will contest against Sovon Chatterjee’s wife Ratna Chatterjee (TMC) in Behala Purba; actor Yash Dasgupta has been fielded in Chanditala.
Sitting Singur MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who quit TMC after being denied ticket, was fielded from the same constituency by BJP. Defectors from TMC Rajib Banerjee and Prabir Ghoshal were fielded from sitting seats of Domjur and Uttarpara respectively.
The eight-phase West Bengal elections will begin on 27 March. Results will be announced, along with other states going to polls, on 2 May.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)