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BJP announces candidates for 3 assembly by-polls in Bengal
The by-elections are expected to indicate if the voting pattern remains the same as seen during the Lok Sabha elections or record a different trend.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday named its candidates for the three assembly by-elections, which have gained significance in the light of the changing political equations in the state, scheduled to be held on November 25.
The BJP has risen from being a marginal force in the 2016 assembly polls—it won three of 294 seats—to becoming the ruling Trinamool Congress’ (TMC’s) principal opponent in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The BJP had bagged 18 of the state’s 42 parliamentary seats.
The by-elections are expected to indicate if the voting pattern remains the same as seen during the Lok Sabha elections or record a different trend.
The party’s state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar will contest from Karimpur, Kamal Chandra Sarkar has been fielded from Kaliagunj and Premchand Jha is the candidate from Kharagpur Sadar.
Kaliagunj is reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Caste category.
Sarkar is known for his organisational skills while Jha was the party’s state president Dilip Ghosh’s election agent in the last Lok Sabha polls.
The state’s ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Left and the Congress had named their candidates on Thursday.
In Kharagpur Sadar, the TMC has fielded Pradip Sarkar, the chairman of Kharagpur municipality that constitutes most of the assembly seat. Bimalendu Sinha Roy, the TMC candidate for Karimpur, is a retired headmaster of a high school and social worker.
The party’s Kaliaganj candidate Tapan Deb Singha is the vice-chairperson of the Kaliaganj community development block.
The Congress has decided to support the Left’s candidate at Karimpur, lawyer Golam Rabbi, while the Left will be supporting Congress candidates in Kharagpur Sadar and Kaliaganj.
The Congress has fielded another retired school teacher Chittaranjan Mandal, a veteran corporator and former vice-chairperson of Kharagpur municipality, in Kharagpur Sadar.
In Kaliaganj, its candidate is Dhitashree Roy, the daughter of the local member of legislative assembly (MLA) whose death necessitated the by-election.
Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur seats fell vacant after the local MLAs, the BJP’s Dilip Ghosh and TMC’s Mohua Moitra, respectively, got elected to the Lok Sabha.
In 2016, the BJP won Kharagpur Sadar (West Midnapore district), TMC Karimpur (Nadia district) and the Left-backed Congress candidate was victorious from Kaliaganj (Uttar Dinajpur).
“I hope the elections will be held peacefully,” Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said earlier this week while referring to the incidents of violence that have marred almost all the previous elections in the state over the past few years.
The BJP has written to the Election Commission seeking deployment of central paramilitary forces in all the three seats to man the polling booths.
