West Bengal Assembly Polls: BJP Announces First List Of 57 Candidates

The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly Polls. The party also fielded Suvendu Adhikari from his home turf of Nandigram, the same constituency from where West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo announced her candidature. 

Former Indian cricketer Ashoke Dinda and ex-IPS officer Bharati Ghosh are also among the party's list of candidates, announced party general secretary Arun Singh. The party has conceded one seat to ally AJSU, he added.

With this, the party has announced candidates for all but three of the 60 seats which will go to polls in the first two of the eight-phase elections to be held between March 27 and April 29.

"Jungle raaj" prevails in the state, and voters have made up their mind to oust the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and elect the BJP to power, Singh claimed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address a rally in Kolkata's Brigade Parade ground on Sunday, his first after the announcement of the poll dates.

Nandigram, the site of protests against the Left government which had ignited a popular upsurge and catapulted the TMC to power in 2011, is set for one of the keenest electoral battles in the state with Banerjee taking on her former protegee and now BJP leader Adhikari.

Adhikari had won from the seat in 2016 and resigned recently before crossing over to the saffron party.

Banerjee announced her candidature from the seat while leaving her traditional constituency of Bhowanipore in Kolkata.

With PTI Inputs