The Trinamool Congress’s candidate list for the coming Assembly polls includes some interesting names, indicating the party’s focus on family ties. Alongside retaining a husband-wife duo, the party has also given tickets to a brother-sister duo and two brothers. Additionally, many of the candidates are also from established political families, with several sons and daughters of MLAs securing nominations.
Moloy Ghatak, a former cabinet minister, is contesting from Asansol Uttar, while his brother Abhijit Ghatak has got a ticket from Kulti seat, in the Paschim Bardhaman district.
Sitting Behala Purba MLA Ratna Chattopadhyay has been fielded from the Behala Paschim seat while her brother Subhashish Das will be the TMC candidate from Maheshtala, (where his father Dulal Das was the sitting MLA).
The party has also retained the husband-wife duo of Becharam Manna and Karabi Manna, wherein Becharam will be contesting from Singur, his wife is a candidate from Haripal assembly seat.
“Mamata Banerjee entrusted us with the seats. We had earlier won from these seats. With her blessings and the people’s support, we will win again,” Becharan Manna said.
The list also features sons and daughters of MLAs, including Tirthankar Ghosh, son of former TMC leader and MLA Nirmal Ghosh, contesting from Panihati.
Sreya Pandey, daughter of late TMC leader and minister Sadhan Pandey, is contesting from Manicktala, while her mother Supti Pandey is the sitting MLA.
Mamatabala Thakur’s daughter Madhuparna is contesting from Bagda assembly seat, and Kalyan Banerjee’s son Sirsanya Bandopadhyay is contesting from Uttarpara.
“I have blessings of my mother and Mamata Banerjee. Will work hard for the people. I am confident of a win in Manicktala assembly seat,” said Sreya Pandey, speaking with media persons.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday declared its full list of candidates with 291 names, with three seats in the Darjeeling Hills left for Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha. The party has retained 135 MLAs and dropped 74, while 15 other MLAs have had their seats changed.
The party has retained its old-timers and sitting MLAs in most of the seats, choosing experience over experimentation. This, TMC insiders said, was aimed at avoiding factional feuds that might have erupted had new faces been fielded in a majority of the seats. MLAs such as Sovandeb Chattopadhyay in Balygunge (Kolkata), Md Gulam Rabbani in Goalpokhar (Uttar Dinajpur), Pundarikakshya Saha in Nabadwip (Nadia), Jyotipriyo Mullick in Habra (North 24 Parganas), Bankim Chandra Hazra in Sagar (South 24 Parganas), Atin Ghosh in Kashipur–Belgachhia (Kolkata), Akhil Giri in Ramnagar (Purba Medinipur), Manas Bhunia in Sabang (Paschim Medinipur), Madan Mitra in Kamarhati (North 24 Parganas), and Ashok Kumar Deb in Budge Budge (South 24 Parganas).