The BJP on Sunday released its partial candidate list for the second and third phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections fielding four sitting MPs including a Union Minister and three turncoats from the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The ruling party at Centre announced its candidate list for 27 out of 31 seats in the third phase and 38 out of 44 seats in the fourth phase.
The saffron party fielded Union Minister Babul Supriyo from the Tollygunge Assembly constituency in South Kolkata. It fielded sitting MP Locket Chatterjee from Chuchura constituency in Hooghly district and Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik from the Dinhata Assembly seat in Cooch Behar district. It also fielded Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta from Tarakeshwar constituency.
BJP’s latest candidate list includes former Forest Minister and TMC turncoat Rajib Banerjee who has been fielded from the Domjur constituency and outgoing MLA from Singur in Hooghly district Rabindranath Bhattacharya- who recently joined the BJP- from Singur Assembly seat. Another TMC turncoat and MLA Dipak Haldar has been fielded from Diamond Harbour in South 24 Paraganas district.
The list also features two celebrity candidates. Actor Payal Sarkar has been fielded from Behala Purba (East) and actor Yash Dasgupta has been fielded from Chanditala in Kolkata.
The saffron party had earlier released the list of 58 candidates for the first and second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections.