Kolkata, March 14 The CPI-M-led Left Front in West Bengal on Thursday released the first list of its candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Left Front Chairman Biman Bose, announcing the names of candidates for 16 out of the state's 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, said that he is still hopeful that the talks with Congress on a seat-sharing arrangement will fructify.
"This is just a seat-sharing arrangement and not an alliance. There had been bilateral talks on the matter. However, nothing can be said for the final unless and until the talks take shape," he said.
Of the 16 candidates announced on Thursday, 13 are from the CPI-M, and the other three are from the CPI, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the All India Forward Bloc. As many as 14 of them are new faces.
In the case of the CPI-M, the focus had been more on fielding young faces from the party’s students’ and youth wings.
Saira Shah Halim, the niece of iconic Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah, has been fielded as the CPI-M candidate from Kolkata South constituency. While the Trinamool Congress has re-nominated its sitting MP Mala Roy, the BJP has yet to name its candidate.
The surprising nomination was that of the CPI-M Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty. However, he was fielded from Dum Dum constituency in North 24 Parganas, instead of Jadavpur constituency in South 24 Parganas, where he was an MP for a single term from 2004 to 2009.
While the Trinamool has re-nominated its sitting MP Saugata Roy, the BJP candidate is awaited.
The CPI-M candidate from Jadavpur now is Srijan Bhattacharya, the immediate past President of the party's student wing SFI.
Dipsita Dhar, a popular face of the students’ movement in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, has been fielded from Sreerampore constituency in Hooghly district.
Two Calcutta High Court advocates, who had been in the limelight recently because of their arguments in favour of deprived candidates in the multi-crore school job case, namely Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay and Sayan Bandopadhyay, have been nominated from Howrah and Tamluk constituencies, respectively.
Both are new faces.
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