The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) will announce its candidate list for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections today, March 10, from a mega rally at Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground.
The party will launch its poll campaign from the rally where its West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief, Mamata Banerjee, is expected to set the tone for the upcoming elections.
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"All India Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee will announce the party's candidates for the 42 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal," the TMC said in a statement, reported news agency PTI.
Party leaders said that this is a deviation from the traditional practice of announcing the names of the candidates at a press conference at the Chief Minister’s official residence at Kalighat in south Kolkata.
“Generally the practice is that the candidates are announced a day or two before the scheduled announcement of polling dates by the Election Commission of India. However, this time it is being done much before,” said a senior member of the West Bengal cabinet.
Trinamool sources said that the list is expected to have a mix of “old guards” and “new faces, with most of the sitting MPs to get re-nomination this time as well. The new faces, party insiders said, will have some popular faces from the Bengali cineworld as well.
Meanwhile, BJP has announced the names of 20 out of 42 candidates in West Bengal. However, the number currently stands at 19 now since BJP candidate from Asansol in West Burdwan district Pawan Singh opted out.