Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday released the party’s candidate list for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.
The list includes 291 candidates, with the party contesting in 291 of the state’s 294 constituencies. The remaining three seats will be contested by its ally, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha led by Anit Thapa.
Banerjee will contest again from Bhabanipur. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Suvendu Adhikari against her; he had defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly election, making their face-off a key contest.
TMC said its slate includes 52 women, 95 candidates from SC/ST communities and 47 from minority communities. The party denied tickets to 74 sitting MLAs, while 135 sitting MLAs have been renominated.
Banerjee claimed the TMC would win more than 226 seats and form the government for a fourth term. She also alleged that the Election Commission was acting in favour of the BJP and said the BJP and the Commission would be responsible for any untoward incidents during the polls.
