Calcutta, March 25: One result of the Great Bengal Political Family Soap Opera is out: this election has thrown up a cast of candidates that can fill most genealogical roles except that of a daughter.

The nomination lists of the four mainstream political parties in Bengal are peppered with sons, wives, a brother, a husband, a niece and even a mother-in-law who can count a politician among their relatives. But no daughter figures among the notable “political relatives”. (See chart)

For a state that has gifted India one of its most powerful daughters, that can only be described as a raw deal for the political girl child.

As many as 12 sons of political leaders find place on the lists of the Trinamul Congress, the Congress and the Left. The Left tops the list with five sons, followed by Trinamul’s four and the Congress’s three.

Gender analysts are not amused. “The tendency to nominate sons is not new in the normal trajectory and it is only when there are no sons that the daughter is thought of and there are only a few exceptions (like Sunil Dutt’s daughter Priya). It is not desirable at all,” said Samita Sen, the director of the School of Women’s Studies in Jadavpur University.

Although no well-known political daughter has made the Trinamul list this time, Mamata Banerjee’s party cannot be accused of ignoring wives. Of the five political wives contesting, four or 80 per cent have been fielded by her party.

If the seeds of a soap opera plot are indeed germinating, the scriptwriters will be spoilt for choice. The wide array of candidates offers scope for a saas-bahu ensemble without which few serials, political or otherwise, can hope to run for five years.

The star student in the clan class is Trinamul. Of the 22 political relatives on the lists of the parties, Trinamul accounts for more than half at 12. The Left has half the number of relatives as that of Trinamul, and the Congress half that of the Left. Minnow BJP, too, finds a toehold with one relative but she is the niece of a Trinamul-backed Rajya Sabha member.

A Trinamul leader saw no reason to be defensive, though he drew a distinction with the Congress, the mother of all dynasty parties. “Why shouldn’t there be relatives if their families have made contributions in public life? The point to note is that unlike the Nehru-Gandhi family, Mamata Banerjee is neither contesting herself nor has she made a single member of her family a candidate in the coming elections,” he said.

Some candidates pointed out how the political bloodline would stand them in good stead. Amit Mitra, the Ficci secretary-general and Trinamul’s Khardah candidate, said: “I may not be from politics but politics runs in my blood as I used to accompany my father (Haridas Mitra, who was Congress MLA and deputy Speaker) in his election rallies.”

If it was Mausam Benazir Noor, a scion of Malda’s Khan Chowdhury family, who was the “star relative” from Bengal in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, this time it is Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit who will make his debut in electoral politics as the Congress candidate from Birbhum’s Nalhati.

“I idolise Jawaharlal Nehru and my father Pranab Mukherjee,” Abhijit said. “I was in a public sector firm, but I gave up my job and joined politics after seeking my father’s blessings.”

A Congress leader said: “Earlier, Congress leaders used to point their fingers at A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury for introducing dynastic politics in Bengal. But now Mukherjee has not only taken after the first family of India but also the Khan Chowdhury family by bringing his son into politics.”

The Khan Chowdhury family did not fail to disappoint this time either: the Malda district chief of the Congress, Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury, has brought in his son Isha Khan Chowdhury to contest from the Baishnabnagar seat.

“For decades my family has been in politics,” said 39-year-old Isha. “My entire being is seeped in politics. Despite spending the first 19 years of my life in Toronto, where I was born, I returned to my roots and after doing business for some years, I decided to join politics. Earlier, I used to accompany my uncle Ghani Khan Chowdhury on his political campaigns, after that I used to accompany my father. Now I’ve hit the campaign trail.”

The Left, which used to cry foul over dynastic politics, has given a “qualitative” spin. “For us, quality matters; being a relative is only coincidental,” CPM state secretariat member Rabin Deb said. “Fielding sons, daughters and wives is part of the culture of the Congress and Trinamul. In the case of Left Front, choice of candidates is made on the basis of several criteria.”