India / Bengal CM to fight from Nandigram in polls; to vacate Bhawanipore seat

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be contesting the upcoming Assembly Elections from Nandigram. "Will fight from Nandigram, will vacate Bhowanipore," Banerjee said.

CM Banerjee said that party colleague Sovandeb Chattopadhyay would contest from Bhowanipore.

"I am going to Nandigram on 9th March. On 10th March, I will file the nomination at Haldia," the West Bengal CM said.

Nandigram in Purbo Medinipur district is the stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari, one of the BJP's biggest acquisitions from the Trinamool Congress ahead of the high-voltage election.

Adhikari was not just the face of the Trinamool in Nandigram, he was also the face of the party’s land protest on the ground.

TMC list of 291 out today

The TMC supremo also announced 291 candidates in West Bengal's 294 seats for the 2021 elections starting later this month.

The TMC has fielded 50 women, 42 Muslim candidates, 79 scheduled caste candidates (SC), and 17 Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates for the Bengal polls.

"On 3 seats of north Bengal, we not putting up our candidates," she added. The West Bengal CM said that the party has left these seats for allies and friends to contest from North Bengal and other regions.

"I thank Tejashwi Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren and Shiv Sena for extending their support to me," Banerjee said while addressing a press conference today.

No candidate above 80 will contest from the Trinamool Congress, Banerjee announced. "23-24 existing TMC MLAs have been dropped due to age and other reasons," she said.

In the list of 291 candidates, the TMC has dropped more than 20 sitting MLAs and top ministers, including Partha Chattopadhyay and Amit Mitra.

"We have given assembly poll tickets to eminent personalities from the field of arts, sports, media and culture," the TMC supremo said.

Earlier today, the Trinamool Congress Election Committee met at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kolkata to finalise candidates for 294 seats for the West Bengal Assembly election.

On 20 February, the incumbent TMC launched the slogan for the polls -- "Bangla nijer meyekei chaye" (Bengal wants its own daughter).

West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left-Indian Secular Front (ISF) alliance and BJP in the fray.

While Banerjee is seeking her third consecutive term, BJP has set a target of winning 200 seats in the 294-member state Assembly.

West Bengal Assembly polls will be held in eight phases starting from 27 March with the final round of voting taking place on 29 April. Results will be declared on 2 May.