Mamata creates new record, names 41% women candidates
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday declared the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections 2019 with nearly 41 percent women candidates.
"This year, we are having nearly 41 percent women candidates in our list. Last time, it was 35 percent. It is a proud moment for us and is a significant stride towards women empowerment. Everybody is talking about 33 percent reservation for women and we already have 35 percent women representation in Parliament," Banerjee said.
The list of candidates that has 17 women candidates include political veterans as well as Tollywood actors. Mala Roy who has been fielded from Kolkata South seat sounded confident of her victory. "South Kolkata is one of the prime seats and all eyes are fixed on it. I am indebted to our party chief Mamata Banerjee for having the faith in me and I will try my best to meet her expectations. I have been in politics for many years and have been working for the cause of the people. I will continue to do the same," Roy maintained.
Mahua Moitra who will be contesting from Krishnanagar seat expressed her gratitude towards Banerjee and said: "I will try to reach out to every single voter in my constituency during the campaign, taking my party workers into confidence." Moitra is an MLA from Karimpur and was the vice-president of JP Morgan before stepping into politics.
Actor Mimi Chakraborty will be fighting from Jadavpur in place of Sugata Bose. "I am privileged as Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has thought that I am fit enough to contest in the elections. I am hopeful of winning as I believe that people will shower their blessings on me," she maintained.
Actor Nusrat Jahan who will contest from Basirhat said that she will try her best to live up to the trust that the TMC supremo has bestowed upon her. The surprise factor in the list came in the form of a new women candidate — Rupali Biswas from Ranaghat seat. She is the wife of Satyajit Biswas, the MLA from Krishnagunj, who was shot dead in February this year. "I will give my all-out to complete the pending development works of my husband. I will act under the instructions of the party leadership and carry out the responsibility entrusted upon me," she added.
Mausam Noor, former Congress MP, who had joined TMC in January this year will fight in Malda North seat while Beerbaha Soren will be contesting from Jhargram. Actor Moon Moon Sen who had won from Bankura seat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls will contest from Asansol. Sajda Ahmed will contest from Uluberia.
Among the women candidates who have remained unchanged from 2014 Lok Sabha polls are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat, Arpita Ghosh from Balurghat, Pratima Mondal from Joynagar, Ratna De Nag from Hooghly, Shatabdi Roy from Birbhum, Aparupa Poddar from Arambag and a few others.
