Kolkata: The TMC Sunday announced the candidate list for all 42 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal, dropping a few sitting MPs and bringing in several new faces such as former cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Kriti Azad.
The party renominated 16 sitting MPs and fielded 12 women.
The TMC also renominated expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar seat for the second consecutive term.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
From the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, where Sandeshkhali is situated, TMC pitted its former MP Haji Nurul Islam by dropping sitting MP Nusrat Jahan.
As expected, the popular actor of yesteryears, Shatrughan Sinha, who is the sitting TMC Lok Sabha member from Asansol constituency in West Burdwan district, got re-nominated this time as well.
A surprise in the list was the fielding of Bengali cine-star and anchor of the popular reality show “Didi Number 1” Rachana Banerjee for Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency in Hooghly district. The sitting BJP Lok Sabha member from that constituency is another actress-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee.
Actress Saaayoni Ghosh, who is currently the state president of the youth wing of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, will be contesting from the Jadavpur constituency after actress and the sitting MP from that constituency Mimi Chakraborty announced that she wanted to quit politics.
Another actress-turned-politician June Malia, who is already a Trinamool Congress legislator, will be contesting from Medinipur constituency in West Midnapore district. BJP’s former national vice-president and former state president in West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, is sitting Lok Sabha MP of the seat.
Actor Prasun Banerjee, who is already the sitting Lok Sabha member from Howrah constituency in Kolkata adjacent Howrah district, has also been re-nominated.
The list was announced from TMC’s mega rally held at Brigade Parada Grounds in Kolkata, where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the party will contest Lok Sabha elections alone in all 42 seats in the state.
PTI