The Left Front on Monday announced its first list of candidates for 192 Assembly seats in the upcoming assembly elections, with outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and CPM central committee member Minakshi Mukherjee among key nominees.
Bhattacharya will contest from Jadavpur Assembly seat in the southern fringes of Kolkata, a former CPM bastion. He was earlier nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Mukherjee, one of the most recognisable young faces of the party, has been fielded from Uttarpara in Hooghly district, alongside student leader Dipsita Dhar from Dum Dum North. Minakshi had unsuccessfully contested the 2021 Assembly elections from Nandigram against Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari.
The Left Front has nominated Sabina Yasmin from Kaliganj,. the mother of six-year-old Tamanna, who was killed in a crude bomb blast allegedly hurled from a victory rally on the day of counting for the Kaliganj byelection last June, which the Trinamool Congress won.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose said the remaining candidates would be announced within three to four days as seat-sharing discussions among allies are finalised.
The Left has also fielded several young leaders, including Kalatan Dasgupta from Panihati, Sayan Bandyopadhyay from Maheshtala, and Saptarshi Deb from Rajarhat-New Town.
Kalatan, who was arrested during the RG Kar movement, has been fielded from Panihati, the same area which was home to the young medico raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024.
Veterans like Manas Mukherjee, Ambar Mitra, Sujit Chakraborty and Debolina Hembram also found a place in the list, along with former lawmaker Amjad Hossain.
The announcements came a day after the Election Commission declared a two-phase polling schedule in West Bengal, with voting slated for April 23 and April 29, and counting on May 4. With both the Left Front and BJP unveiling substantial portions of their candidate lists, the electoral contest in Bengal is now firmly underway, setting the stage for a high-stakes political showdown. The Trinamool Congress is likely to release its candidate list on March 17.
