Ritzu Ghosal

• Party: Congress
• Occupation: Lawyer at Calcutta High Court
• Education: LLM from University of Manchester
• Age: 39
• Stays at: 1, NG Ghosal Road, Ariadaha

On the off-beat spelling of his name:

You got to ask my mother who is no more. It sounds French. I like it.

On contesting from Barasat despite his neighbourhood Ariadaha coming under the Dum Dum constituency:

We had able candidates from both Dum Dum and Barrackpore. I know Barasat and the party workers here, having worked here for three years in my Youth Congress days. My wife has an apartment in Karunamoyee G Block in Salt Lake. If it gets late, I spend the night there.

Political background:

I am in politics since 1995. I come from a political family. My father Ajay Ghosal became the youngest AICC member at the time in 1956. He was 25 then. He later became the assistant secretary of the party’s district unit and contested the Assembly polls thrice. I was the Chhatra Parishad general secretary in Calcutta University. I returned to politics in 2006. This is my first election. It’s been a great learning curve.

On his chances:

People want a change. They want someone with fresh ideas and a clean image. Another advantage I have is my age. I am from Generation Z.

Interests outside politics:

I am a huge movie buff. I missed out on so many new releases because of the elections. I am also a fitness freak. It’s been two months that I haven’t had time to go gymming.