West Bengal Assembly polls | Four MPs, actors and dissident TMC leaders in BJP list
The Hindu
Four sitting MPs, a host of actors and dissident leaders of Trinamool Congress were among the list of candidates nominated on Sunday by the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) to contest the upcoming 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal.
The BJP announced candidates for 63 of the 75 seats for the third and fourth phase of polls in the State that will go to polls on April 6 and April 10 respectively. Union Minister and Asansol Lok Sabha MP Babul Surpiyo will contest from Tollygunj seat in south Kolkata, while Hooghly Lok Sabha Locket Chatterjee will contest from Chunchura Assembly seat in the same district. The BJP’s candidate list also included Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik would be contesting from Dinhata Assembly seat in the same district while Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta has been nominated from Tarakeshwar in Hooghly district.For the first time in a Lok Sabha election, the AIADMK forfeited deposits in seven constituencies. For the ruling DMK, the verdict is seen as a popular endorsement of the functioning of its three-year government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. The outcome indicates that the BJP, whose Hindutva ideology has all along been considered alien to the political ethos of Tamil Nadu
Cardiologist and MP-elect from Bengaluru Rural C.N. Manjunath, who contested from the BJP and defeated three-time Congress MP D.K. Suresh, said he was the “people’s candidate” and that it is their aspiration to see him in the Union Cabinet. In an interview with The Hindu, he claimed his victory was possible because those who were treated at the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research became his “ambassadors”.