Bengal’s main Opposition party, the BJP, released its list of candidates for the 144 wards of Calcutta Municipal Corporation which will go to polls on December 19, the names announced on Monday barely 48 hours before the deadline for submission of nomination ends.
Unlike the high-decibel Assembly polls of this summer, the party which has been on a downward slide since has steered clear of any gimmicks like pitching actors and sportspersons looking at politics as an alternate career. The BJP has also not fielded any dissident Trinamul leader from any of the wards, unlike in the Assembly polls when the candidates' list was packed with turncoats from the ruling party. Some of those who won the Assembly polls on a BJP ticket have since returned to the Trinamul, and the BJP has pressed for their disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Mina Devi Purohit, the party’s oldest councillor who held the post of deputy mayor when Trinamul Congress ran the civic body 21 years ago with the late Subrata Mukherjee as mayor, has been renominated. Sajal Ghosh, son of former Trinamul leader Pradip Ghosh, who had joined the BJP but is largely sidelined, has also been given a nomination.
In the list of 144, the BJP has given tickets to 50 women and 48 young faces. Three doctors and five lawyers have also made it to the list. The only sitting councillor to be dropped is Subrata Ghosh of ward 87, which has now been reserved for women candidates. Ghosh has not been accommodated elsewhere.
While the Trinamul has fielded ex-Congress leaders like Mahesh Sharma and Monalisa Banerjee, the Congress, which released a partial list on Saturday, had fielded Trinamul sitting councillor Partha Mitra who has again flipped to the Trinamul. Former Trinamul MLA from Metiabruj Mumtaz Begum is contesting on a Congress ticket.
The Congress released another list of 29 candidates from which Mitra was dropped. Congress workers in the port area have expressed their displeasure against the committee led by Purulia Congressman Nepal Mahato to finalise candidates for the CMC polls.
