BJP declares candidates for 28 seats in West Bengal

The BJP on Thursday declared candidates for 184 Lok Sabha seats out of which 28 are from West Bengal.

Out of the 28 candidates, three have recently joined the saffron party from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and one from the CPM.

The BJP has fielded former Trinamool Congress MLA Arjun Singh from Barrackpur Lok Sabha seat. Singh will be pitted against TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi. Singh left the TMC after the party favoured Trivedi for Barrackpur seat.

Another former TMC MP Soumitra Kha, who joined BJP in January, has been fielded from the Bishnupur (SC) Lok Sabha seat. Kha left the TMC following disagreements with the party leadership, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is also an MP.

The BJP leadership fielded expelled TMC MP Anupam Hazra from the crucial Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat. Hazra will be facing off with CPM’s Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and TMC’s celebrity candidate Mimi Chakraborty.

As for the Malda Uttar (North) constituency, the BJP has fielded former CPM MLA Khagen Murmu.

BJP state president from West Bengal Dilip Ghosh will be contesting from the Mednipur Lok Sabha seat and state general secretary Sayantan Basu has been fielded from the Basihat Lok Sabha seat. Former BJP state president Rahul Sinha will contest from Kolkata Uttar ( North) constituency. Sinha is currently a BJP national secretary.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo will contest from the Asansol constituency and will take on one of his key rivals and TMC candidate former film star Moon Moon Sen.

The BJP has also fielded former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, once known to be close to the West Bengal chief minister, from the Ghatal Lok Sabha seat.