The All India Trinamool Congress has announced its candidate list from the residence of CM Mamata Banerjee. The list consists of about 291 candidates for the elections that will take place on April 23 and 29. Anit Thapas’s party BGPM will be contesting the three seats in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong instead of the TMC.
During the announcement, the CM said, “I would like to say to the BJP. Why are you so afraid? Let's fight without using agencies, without creating a gas crisis. Let's fight while maintaining peace and courtesy. They are playing a brilliant game".
"This is a fight for Bengal's existence. Delhi will not win. They have taken all the power from us. They could not take away one power. That is the power of the people," she added.
The biggest talking point was who the party would field for the Bhawanipur and Nandigram constituencies. Mamata Banerjee has announced that she is contesting from Bhawanipur.
The BJP has fielded Subhendu Adhikari as their candidate.
Meanwhile, in Nandigram, the TMC has fielded Pabitra Kar. Kar is a former BJP leader from Boyal-I Gram Panchayat under Nandigram-II Block in Purba Medinipur. He was known to be working directly under Subhendu Adhikari.
In an X post, the party said: “Dissatisfied with BJP’s anti-people stance, he has chosen to stand firmly beside @MamataOfficial and work in the true spirit of Maa-Mati-Manush for the welfare of the people.”
In 2018, Subhendu was the head of the Boyal-2 Gram Panchayat in Nandigram as part of the TMC. In 2020, he left the party and joined the BJP. Pabitra Kar also joined him as his close associate.
Pabitra, who was a loyalist to Subhendu has now parted ways with him.
The Nandigram constituency is made of two blocks. While the TMC had a lead in Block 1, Block 2 gave the BJP a major lead in the last elections. Pabitra's local political influence is considered one of the reasons the party got a major lead in the block.
Opposition parties like the BJP and the CPI (M) had already released their lists on Monday. The BJP had announced its list of 144 candidates while the CPIM announced a list of 192 names.