JOIN US The ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal blew the maiden poll bugle on Sunday when it released a list of 292 candidates for the April-May state Assembly elections, dropping nine sitting ministers and introducing as many as 149 new faces.
The other two candidates for the 294-member Assembly will be announced later, Front chairman Biman Bose told reporters here after announcing the list in the presence of leaders of other constituent parties.
The nine ministers dropped from the list include, Education Minister Partha Dey, Environment Minister Manab Mukherjee and Forest Minister Yogesh Burman (CPM) besides, Water Resources Minister Nandagopal Bhattacherjee (CPI). They chose not to contest the elections due to various reasons, party leaders said.
Of the 153 new faces in the list, 114 are from the CPM. The list also has 46 women candidates as against 34 in the 2006 Assembly elections. While Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacherjee will be fighting from Jadavpur in Kolkata from where he had won the polls five times consecutive ly, another CPI(M) heavyweight and Housing Minister Goutam Dev has been shifted from North 24 Parganas district to a safer seat in Dum Dum in the northern fringe of the city. He is likely to face Trinamool’s Bratya Basu, a famous theatre personality.