TMC list: 8 sitting MPs dropped, Haji Nurul Islam named from Sandeshkhali's Basirhat; key takeaways

Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha elections candidate list: A total of 12 women have found mention on the list.

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced its list of 42 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. "Today, I will bring before you candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal," West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at the party's mega rally in Kolkata.

Here are the key takeaways from the list.

1. Former cricketer Yusuf Pathan and expelled MP Mahua Moitra feature on the list.
2. Eight sitting MPs have been dropped. 16 sitting MPs have been renominated. A total of 12 women have been named in the list.
3. Ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, which is currently held by Mamata Banerjee's critic Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
4. Ex- cricketer Kirti Azad will contest the elections from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
5. From the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, where Sandeshkhali is situated, TMC pitted its former MP Haji Nurul Islam by dropping sitting MP Nusrat Jahan.
6. Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha over a cash-for-query allegation, has been fielded from her former constituency, Krishnanagar.
7. Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee will contest from the Diamond Harbour constituency.
8. In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats while the BJP sprung a major surprise, winning 18 seats. The Congress won the remaining two seats.
9. Meanwhile, the announcement of the first list has dashed the Congress party's hope for an alliance in West Bengal.
10. "The Indian National Congress has always maintained that it wants a respectable seat-sharing formula with the TMC in West Bengal. It means mutual negotiations, give and take, some compromise. We have always said that our doors are open for negotiations and seat-sharing talks but there should be no unilateral announcement of the seats, we should do it collectively together as we have done in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, UP, and so on...The TMC has announced, "I don't know what pressure was there on the TMC but as far as we are concerned we want to strengthen the INDIA alliance in West Bengal...So let's see what happens," said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

Kolkata: TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during a rally. (PTI)

With inputs from ANI, PTI