The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is likely to not give tickets to several sitting MLAs in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections. According to TMC sources, the possibility emerged during an election committee meeting on Monday presided by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her residence in South Kolkata.
TMC insiders said that the party leadership had decided to give tickets to younger candidates and women. “They are also emphasizing on clean image and grassroots level connection of potential candidates in their respective areas,” a senior TMC leader said.
He also said that while in the last Lok Sabha elections TMC fielded 33 per cent woman candidates, this time it was expected to increase further.
“The party would field new candidates in about 30 per cent out of the 294 Assembly seat including the 19 MLAs who joined the BJP,” the TMC leader said.
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Apart from the performance of sitting MLAs in the last five years, their image, acceptability among voters, the reports submitted on every MLA by the Prashant Kishore-led I-PAC would also play a key role in candidate selection.
“The party leadership is likely not to renominate MLAs aged above 80 since they are emphasizing on youth,” TMC sources said. They also said that TMC’s candidate list is nearly ready.
“The Election Committee has entrusted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to finalize the candidate list for the Assembly elections,” senior TMC MP Sougata Roy told reporters after the meeting of the 12-member Assembly committee.
The TMC is gearing up to face a tough challenge in the Assembly elections from the resurgent BJP which has emerged as the principal opposition in the state after winning 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal. Earlier the saffron party was considered a fringe element in the state.
The ruling party in the state won 211 out of the 294 Assembly constituencies in the 2016 Assembly elections. The Left-Congress alliance bagged 77 seats and the BJP got three seats in the last Assembly elections.