Mamata Banerjee to contest only from Nandigram; TMC announces West Bengal candidate list

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced the candidate list of her party and said it will contest 291 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections. She also confirmed that she will contest only from Nandigram seat in East Midnapore district, and not from Bhowanipore.

'I will contest from Nandigram'

"Today, we are releasing a list of 291 candidates which includes 50 women, 42 Muslim candidates. On 3 seats of north Bengal, we not putting up our candidates. I will contest from Nandigram," Mamata Banerjee said. The TMC chief said that from Bhowanipore constituency, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will be contesting. 

Here are some of the candidates:

• Mamata Banerjee- Nandigram
• Manoj Tiwary - Shibpur
• Debasis Kumar - Rash Behari
• Madan Mitra- Kamarhati
• Aditi Munshi- Rajarhat
• Partha Chatterjee- Behala
• Ratna Chatterjee - Behala Purba

Full list :

The West Bengal CM had on January 18 announced that she would contest from Nandigram as well as Bhowanipur seats. On February 20, the incumbent TMC launched the slogan for the polls -- "Bangla nijer meyekei chaye" (Bengal wants its own daughter).

Meanwhile, amid exodus of a number of public representatives and workers, another Trinamool Congress MLA Samir Chakraborty said on Friday that he would not like to contest the West Bengal assembly elections. The TMC leadership said that they will talk to Chakraborty on the issue, PTI reported.

READ | HUGE: Swapna Suresh says Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan 'very much involved' in gold scam

READ | AIADMK releases 1st list of candidates for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections; EPS, OPS named

"I have informed party supremo (Mamata Banerjee) that I don't want to contest the elections but will campaign for the party," Chakraborty said in a Facebook post. Chakraborty, a first time MLA from Taldangra constituency in Bankura district, is a familiar face in vernacular television news channel talk shows representing the TMC's views on various issues.

The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal.

In 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, out of the 294 seats, Congress had managed to win 44 seats while the Left Front bagged 33 seats. The ruling TMC secured 211 seats and the BJP had won 3 seats. West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes in the state will take place on May 2.

READ | SCOOP: BJP to field all big leaders against TMC in Bengal; Suvendu from high-stake seat

READ | In Sushant Singh Rajput-related drug case, NCB files 12,000 page charge sheet

(With agency inputs)