Lok Sabha elections: BJP names its Darjeeling candidate; replaces Union minister Ahluwalia

The BJP on Sunday named Raju Singh Bisht as its candidate from Darjeeling seat for the Lok Sabha polls in place of sitting MP and Union minister S S Ahluwalia.

Kailash Vijayvargiya. ANI Photo

The BJP has named Raju Singh Bisht as its candidate from Darjeeling seat for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Darjeeling seat goes for polls in the second phase on April 18.

The party said it has also received support from two local organisations, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Gorkha Liberation Front.

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday announced that Raju Singh Bisht will  its candidate from Darjeeling seat for the Lok Sabha polls in place of sitting MP and Union minister SS Ahluwalia. The party said it has also received support from two local organisations, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Gorkha Liberation Front. The Darjeeling seat goes for polls in the second phase on April 18 and the last date of filing nominations is March 26. Leaders of the two Gorkha outfits met BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is in-charge of the saffron party's affairs in West Bengal, here, it said, describing Bisht as a young party leader. "Raju Singh Bisht to contest from Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. SS Ahluwalia in a letter to Amit Shah has expressed his inability to contest from Darjeeling. He has stated that he can contest from any other seat in West Bengal," ANI quoted Vijayvargiya as saying. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has managed to win over a section of the Gorkha leadership and has been making a determined bid to wrest the hilly seat from the BJP. The BJP has been winning the seat with support from these Gorkha parties. Its leader Jaswant Singh had won from there in 2009 and Ahluwalia in 2014. Seven-phase Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal West Bengal will have a staggered seven-phase polling for its 42 Lok Sabha constituencies. Two constituencies -- Cooch Behar and Alipurduars in northern part of the state - will go to the hustings in the first phase on April 11. The second phase will see polling in three constituencies, including the hotbed of Gorkhaland movement Darjeeling, in the north Bengal hills, where Union Minister and BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia is likely to contest. North Bengal's Jalpaiguri and Raiganj will also go to polls on the same date. Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Mohammad Salim is re-contesting from Raiganj. Five constituencies - Balurghat, Malda North and Malda South in north Bengal plains and Jangipur and Murshidabad in Murshidabad district - will vote in the third phase on April 23. The fourth phase of polling on April 29, will feature eight constituencies - Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman East, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur and Birbhum. Congress MP and former state party President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is expected to fight from Baharampur, while BJP leader and Union Minister Babul Supriyo is likely to contest from Asansol. In the fifth phase, voters of seven constituencies in and around Gangetic West Bengal - Bangaon, Barrackpur, Howrah, Uluberia, Srerampur, Hooghly, Arambag - will exercise their democratic choice on May 6. Former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi could be the ruling Trinamool Congress's candidate from his old seat Barrackpur. Eight more constituencies - Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur - will witness polling in the sixth round on May 12. A number of these constituencies fall within the once Maoist-affected Jangalmahal area. The remaining nine constituencies-- Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Joynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata South and Kolkata North - situated within North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata, will be up for grabs in the last phase on May 19.

Published at : 24 Mar 2019 10:25 PM (IST)

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