Kolkata: At least five candidates of different parties contesting the ongoing Assembly election in West Bengal have tested positive for COVID-19. This information was given by a Health department official here Friday. Out of the five candidates contesting the Assembly election, three are from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and one each from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the BJP, he said.
RSP’s Jangipur candidate, 73-year-old Pradip Kumar Nandi, tested positive Wednesday and is now in home isolation, the official said. BJP’S candidate for Matigara-Naxalbari seat Anandamay Barman (38), TMC’s Goalpokhar nominee Mohmmed Ghulam Rabbani, Tapan Assembly constituency candidate Kalpana Kisku, and Jalpaiguri candidate Dr Pradip Kumar Barma have also tested COVID-19 positive, the health official added.
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According to an official at the CEO, “The candidates who tested positive must immediately stop campaigning. Either they should isolate themselves at their homes or get themselves hospitalised depending on severity of the infection.”
Congress nominee from Samsherganj Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, Rezaul Haque, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died at a hospital here early Thursday. Even though, the CEO has not yet announced fresh date of the elections to this constituency, political parties have stopped campaigning in the constituency.
