Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee released Friday the list of Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls for 291 seats with emphasis on youths, minority, women and backward communities. Three candidates of the Bimal Gurung faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), an ally of the TMC, will be contesting from the remaining three seats in Darjeeling. Mamata Banerjee exuded confidence that her party will continue to hold power in West Bengal.
“This time we have stressed on more youths and women candidates. Around 23-24 sitting MLAS have been dropped and there are names of about 50 women, 42 Muslims, 79 SC and 17 ST candidates in the list,” Banerjee told mediapersons.
Exuding confidence of returning to power for the third consecutive time, Banerjee termed it as the ‘easiest’ election the TMC has ever faced. “After we come to power we will create Vidhan Parishad to accomodate senior and experienced leaders. We could not accommodate everybody especially those above the age of 80 years,” she said.
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“I will be contesting from Nandigram, my party colleague Sovandeb Chattopadhyay will be contesting from Bhawanipore seat,” informed Banerjee. Her decision to contest from Nandigram could however, backfire. Suvendu Adhikari, the former MLA from Nandigram constituency has defected to the BJP. He has promised that he will see to it that either he or any other BJP candidate will defeat the chief minister in Nandigram. By deciding to accept the challenge, Banerjee has thrown the ball back in BJP’s court.
Banerjee also challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to deploy as much central force as it wants. She asserted that irrespective of the central forces, BJP will return to power for the third time.