Left Front announces list of 25 candidates for LS polls

Kolkata: Left Front announced its list of 25 candidates for the ensuing Lok sabha elections, turning down Congress's demand of fielding nominees for the Basirhat and Purulia seats.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said in a press communiqué on Friday that Congress can field candidates in both the seats if it desires. Earlier, CPI(M) had fielded Mohammed Salim and Badaruddoza Khan in the Raigunj and Murshidabad Lok sabha seats, denying the demand of Congress. Salim and Khan had won the seats by 1,634 and 18,000 votes. Pallab Sengupta of CPI will contest from the Basirhat seat, while Bir Singh Mahato of Forward Bloc will contest from Purulia. The Left Front has announced the names of candidates for 25 seats. It has allowed Congress to field candidates in the remaining 17 seats.

Former Mayor of Kolkata Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya will contest from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat while Nepaldeb Bhattacharya has been fielded for the Dum Dum seat. Interestingly, the Left Front has not fielded any candidate in Howrah. Fuad Halim, son of former Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, will contest from Diamond Harbour.

Professor Nandini Mukherjee, teacher in the department of Computer Science and Electronics in Jadavpur University will contest from the Kolkata South seat. Left Front has not fielded any candidate in the Kolkata North seat.

Subhas Naskar of RSP, former state Irrigation and Waterways minister, will contest from the Joynagar seat. Govinda Roy, a former Forward Bloc MLA, will contest from the Cooch Behar (SC) seat.

Of the 25 candidates whose names were announced on Friday afternoon, only four are women. They are Mili Orao of RSP from the Alipurduar (ST) seat, Rama Biswas of CPI(M) from the Ranaghat (SC) seat, Nandini Mukherjee of CPI(M) from the Kolkata South seat and Maksuda Khatun from the Uluberia seat. The Left Front chairman said that the party will file an Independent Candidate in Darjeeling.