Lok Sabha elections: Congress announces 25 candidates for West Bengal

The Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will be held from April 11 till May 19 in seven phases.

The Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will be held from April 11 till May 19 in seven phases. (PTI)

KOLKATA: The Congress on Monday released the names of 25 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, which will see a staggered seven-phase polling for its 42 Lok Sabha constituencies. The party fielded Mita Chakraborty from Kolkata Dakshin constituency and Surva Ghosh from Howra. Tapan Mondal was made the Congress candidate from Jaynagar (SC) seat. From Krishna Nagar, the Congress gave the ticket to Intaj Ali Shah and from Basirhat, Quazi Abdur Rahim will be in the fray. Mohammad Alam from Barrackpore, Saurav Saha from Dum Dum, Sambhunath Chatterjee from Medinipur, and Pratul Saha from Hooghly were among those named in the list. With this, the party has announced a total of 253 candidates so far.

Congress releases a list of 26 candidates for Lok Sabha elections, fields Sanjay Nirupan from Mumbai North-West constituency. pic.twitter.com/nph2kLx2Zk

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Seven-phase Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal 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.