As West Bengal gears up for the Assembly elections in April, a unique trend has been noticed: many practising lawyers are swapping courtroom arguments with political campaigns.
Several lawyers have been fielded by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Left Front.
Among the three major players, the BJP leads with 11 advocates, the Left Front has fielded seven advocates, while five advocates are in the fray from the TMC.
The Left Front’s most prominent legal face is senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is contesting from Jadavpur. A heavyweight in both the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, Bhattacharya is no stranger to electoral politics.
The alliance has also fielded younger advocates – Soumyajit Raha from Bidhannagar, Sayan Banerjee from Maheshtala, Imteaz Ahmed from Howrah (Madhya), Monirul Islam from Metiaburuz, Srijeeb Biswas from Bhabanipur, and Chandranath Banerjee from Champdani.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Sayan Banerjee said, “I had contested the Lok Sabha 2024 elections from Tamluk. This is the first time I am contesting the assembly elections. It is a step towards getting good legislators. I will address the problems of the youth. It is always an honour to be a candidate of a national party.”
In Uttarpara, the TMC has fielded Sirsanya Bandopadhyay, a senior advocate at the Calcutta High Court and a senior standing counsel for the West Bengal government. He comes from a family with a political lineage – his father, Kalyan Banerjee, is a four-time Lok Sabha MP and also a senior advocate at the Calcutta High Court. The party has also fielded advocate and former Rajya Sabha MP Subhasish Chakraborty from Behala East, lawyers Avijit Bhowmick from Coochbehar Dakshin, Prasenjit Das from Gazole, Ashok Deb from Budge Budge, and Arup Roy from Howrah (Madhya).
The BJP has fielded 11 advocates till now. One of its most prominent legal faces is Priyanka Tibrewal, who had contested against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur bye-elections in 2021. The other prominent BJP candidates from the legal fraternity are Tarun Jyoti Tiwari and Kaustav Bagchi.
Tibrewal is contesting from Entally in Kolkata, Bagchi from Barrackpur, and Tarun Jyoti Tiwari from Rajarhat Gopalpur. Besides these three, Arijit Bakshi has been nominated from Dumdum, Partho Ghosh from Raniganj, Biraj Biswas from Karandighi, Bidyut Kumar Roy from Balurghat, Narayan Chandra Mondal from Basirhat Uttar, Billeswar Sinha from Barjora, Jitendra Tiwari from Pandabeswar, and Dilip Kumar Ghosh from Bolpur.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Tibrewal said, “From the courtroom to the polls, I am a fighter. I fight for justice. I started the fight from the Calcutta High Court for post-poll violence victims to safeguard the people of Entally. Now I am again on the ground to protect the rights of the people.”
Besides practising lawyers, a few veteran TMC leaders who are contesting this time, too, have degrees in law, such as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is contesting from Bhabanipur, Chandrima Bhattacharya from Dum Dum Uttar, Moloy Ghatak from Asansol Uttar, and Biman Banerjee from Baruipur Paschim.
It is to be noted that the Congress is yet to release its candidates’ list for Bengal, and the number of practising lawyers contesting in the elections might just go up when it announces its nominees.