BJP Unveils Second Candidate List for West Bengal Assembly Elections
BJP Announces New Candidates for Upcoming Elections
On Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its second list of candidates for the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal. This list features 111 candidates, including former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nishith Pramanik, who is contesting from the Mathabhanga constituency. At 40 years old, Pramanik previously represented the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency until he lost in the general elections of 2024.
The new list includes around 19 women candidates, among them actress-turned-politician Rupa Ganguly and Rekha Patra. Ganguly will contest from the Sonarpur Dakshin assembly seat, while Patra will run from Hingalganj. Notably, Patra was the BJP candidate for the Basirhat constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Additional Candidates and Changes
Furthermore, the party has nominated Kaushik Roy from Mainaguri, Noman Roy from Darjeeling, Asim Kumar Biswas from Ranaghat Dakshin, Subrata Thakur from Gaighata, and Arjun Singh from Noapara. Debyendu Adhikari, the brother of Suvendu Adhikari, who is contesting from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram, has also been fielded by the BJP from the Egra constituency. Additionally, candidates for Tollygunge, Entally, Maniktala, and Purulia assembly seats include Papiya De Adhikari, Priyanka Tibrewal, Tapas Roy, and Sudip Kumar Mukherjee, respectively.
The BJP has made some adjustments in its first list as well, nominating Vishwajit Khan from the Bishnupur seat and Vishwajit Mahato from Joypur. In total, the saffron party has announced 255 candidates for the West Bengal elections, which will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with vote counting scheduled for May 4 alongside Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Previous Candidate List and Key Contests
In its earlier list released on March 16, the party had declared 144 candidates, including Suvendu Adhikari, who is set to challenge the current Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur. Adhikari had previously contested against Banerjee in the Nandigram seat during the 2021 elections, narrowly defeating her. Following this, Banerjee contested a by-election from Bhabanipur. Additionally, the first list featured Dilip Ghosh from the Kharagpur Sadar seat and former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta from the Rashbehari constituency.