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AMN / KOLKATA
The ruling Trinamul Congress TMC today announced the candidate list for all 42 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal, dropping a few sitting MPs and bringing in several new faces such as former cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Kriti Azad.
The party renominated 16 sitting MPs and fielded 12 women.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
From the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, where Sandeshkhali is situated, TMC pitted its former MP Haji Nurul Islam by dropping sitting MP Nusrat Jahan.
The TMC also renominated expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar seat for the second consecutive term.
The list was announced from TMC’s mega rally held at Brigade Parada Grounds in Kolkata, where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the party will contest Lok Sabha elections alone in all 42 seats in the state.
TMC’s other candidates for Lok Sabha polls:
Cooch Behar: Jagadish Chandra Basunia
Alipurduar: Prakashchik Baraik
Jalpaiguri: Nirmal Chandra Roy
Darjeeling: Gopal Lama
Raigunj: Krishna Kalyani
Balurghat: Biplab Mitra
Maldah North: Prasun Banerjee (former IPS)
Maldah South: Shanzwaz Ali Rahman
Jangipur: Khalilur Rahman
Murshidabad: Abu Taher Khan
Ranaghat: Mukutmani Adhikari
Bongaon: Biswajit Das
Barrackpore: Partha Bhowmik
Dum Dum: Saugata Roy
Barasat: Kakali Ghosh Dastidar
Joynagar: Pratima Mondal
Mathurapur: Bapi Haldar
Diamond Harbour: Abhishek Banerjee
Jadavpur: Sayoni Ghosh
Kolkata South: Mala Roy
Kolkata North: Sudip Bandyopadhyay
Howrah: Prasun Banerjee
Uluberia: Sajda Ahmed
Serampore: Kalyan Bandyopadhyay
Hooghly: Rachana Banerjee
Arambagh: Mitali Bag
Tamluk: Debangshu Bhattacharya
Contai: Uttam Barik
Ghatal: Deepak Adhikari (Dev)
Jhargram; Kalipada Soren
Midnapore: June Malia
Purulia: Shantiram Mahato
Bankura: Arup Chakraborty
Bishnupur: Sujata Mondal Khan
Burdwan East: Sharmila Sarkar
Asansol: Shatrughan Sinha
Bolpur: Asit Mal
Birbhum: Satabdi Roy
The development comes as a setback to the Congress party as it marks the exit of Mamata Banerjee from the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.
Reacting to the announcement, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the grand old party wanted a respectable seat-sharing agreement through negotiations.
“The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together,” Ramesh said.