<p>New Delhi: Former MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Mausam Noor are among the 284 candidates chosen by the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=Congress">Congress </a>on Sunday to fight the Assembly elections in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=West%20Bengal%20">West Bengal</a> where the party is fighting alone for the first time in more than 20 years.</p><p>Sources said names for ten remaining seats will be announced soon for the elections that will be held in two phases -- April 23 and 29. The counting of votes will be on May 4.</p><p>Chowdhury, who lost to Trinamool Congress' cricketer-politician Yusuf Pathan in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has been fielded from his stronghold Baharampur while Noor, a Rajya Sabha MP before quitting Trinamool Congress recently, will be fielded from Malatipur. Noor was a Congress MP in 2009 and 2014 before joining Trinamool.</p>.West Bengal assembly elections: EC releases third supplementary voter list.<p>While the party has fielded Pradip Prasad against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhababipur, it has also chosen leaders like Ranajit Mukherjee (Bidhannagar), Madhap Rai (Darjeeling), Abdul Hannan (Sujapur) and Susmita Biswas (Dum Dum) also to fight the polls.</p><p>The names were finalised at a meeting of Congress' Central Election Committee chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi, KJ George, Salman Khurshid and TS Singhdeo.</p><p>Last month, Congress had announced that it will be fighting alone and there will be no electoral understanding with the CPI(M)-led Left Front as was the case in 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.</p><p>The Congress was the major leader in an alliance it formed in 2006 but it has been a minor partner in 2011, 2016 and 2021 elections. </p><p>In 2006, Congress contested 262 seats winning 21 with a vote share of 14.71 per cent while five years later, it entered into an alliance with Trinamool fighting 66 and winning 42 with 9.09 per cent votes.</p><p>However in 2016, it entered into an electoral understanding with the Left Front, contesting 92 seats and winning 44 with a vote share of 12.25 per cent. </p><p>Congress again contested 92 in 2021 in alliance with the Left but drew a blank. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress managed to win one seat in alliance with the Left while in 2019, when they fought separately, Congress won two. </p><p>The old guard in the party, including Adhir and Pradip Bhattacharya, were favouring a tie-up with the Left party but the younger leaders were against it, as they felt that it robbed their electoral opportunities and was not helping the party organisationally. </p>
<p>New Delhi: Former MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Mausam Noor are among the 284 candidates chosen by the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=Congress">Congress </a>on Sunday to fight the Assembly elections in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=West%20Bengal%20">West Bengal</a> where the party is fighting alone for the first time in more than 20 years.</p><p>Sources said names for ten remaining seats will be announced soon for the elections that will be held in two phases -- April 23 and 29. The counting of votes will be on May 4.</p><p>Chowdhury, who lost to Trinamool Congress' cricketer-politician Yusuf Pathan in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has been fielded from his stronghold Baharampur while Noor, a Rajya Sabha MP before quitting Trinamool Congress recently, will be fielded from Malatipur. Noor was a Congress MP in 2009 and 2014 before joining Trinamool.</p>.West Bengal assembly elections: EC releases third supplementary voter list.<p>While the party has fielded Pradip Prasad against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhababipur, it has also chosen leaders like Ranajit Mukherjee (Bidhannagar), Madhap Rai (Darjeeling), Abdul Hannan (Sujapur) and Susmita Biswas (Dum Dum) also to fight the polls.</p><p>The names were finalised at a meeting of Congress' Central Election Committee chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi, KJ George, Salman Khurshid and TS Singhdeo.</p><p>Last month, Congress had announced that it will be fighting alone and there will be no electoral understanding with the CPI(M)-led Left Front as was the case in 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.</p><p>The Congress was the major leader in an alliance it formed in 2006 but it has been a minor partner in 2011, 2016 and 2021 elections. </p><p>In 2006, Congress contested 262 seats winning 21 with a vote share of 14.71 per cent while five years later, it entered into an alliance with Trinamool fighting 66 and winning 42 with 9.09 per cent votes.</p><p>However in 2016, it entered into an electoral understanding with the Left Front, contesting 92 seats and winning 44 with a vote share of 12.25 per cent. </p><p>Congress again contested 92 in 2021 in alliance with the Left but drew a blank. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress managed to win one seat in alliance with the Left while in 2019, when they fought separately, Congress won two. </p><p>The old guard in the party, including Adhir and Pradip Bhattacharya, were favouring a tie-up with the Left party but the younger leaders were against it, as they felt that it robbed their electoral opportunities and was not helping the party organisationally. </p>
