West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee announces 42 candidates for 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee announced the party's formidable lineup for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections today, revealing the names of 42 candidates at the Brigade Ground in Kolkata. The announcement took place during the party's grand rally, the 'Jana Garjan Sabha,' spearheaded by TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Prominent figures featured in the roster include Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar, Saayoni Ghosh from Jadavpur, Gopal Lamba from Darjeeling, Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour, Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol, and former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore.

The comprehensive list of TMC candidates is as follows:

1.    Alipurduar: Prakash Chik Baraik
2.    Jalpaiguri: Nirmal Chandra Roy
3.    Darjeeling: Gopal Lama
4.    Raigunj: Krishna Kalyani
5.    Balurghat: Biplab Mitra
6.    Malda North: Prasun Banerjee
7.    Malda South: Shahnawaz Ali Raihan
8.    Jangipur: Khalilur Rehman
9.    Baharampur: Yusuf Pathaan
10.    Murshidabad: Abu Teher Khan
11.    Krishnanagar: Mahua Moitra
12.    Ranaghat: Mukutmani Adhikari
13.    Bangaon: Biswajit Das
14.    Barrackpore: Partha Bhowmik
15.    Dum Dum: Sougata Roy
16.    Barasat: Kakali Ghosh Dastidar
17.    Basirhat: Haji Nurul Islam
18.    Joynagar: Pratima Mondal
19.    Mathurapur: Bapi Haldar
20.    Diamond Harbour: Abhishek Banerjee
21.    Jadavpur: Sayoni Ghosh
22.    Kolkata South: Mala Roy
23.    Kolkata North: Sudip Bandyopadhyay
24.    Howrah: Prasun Bandyopadhyay
25.    Uluberia: Sajdah Ahmed
26.    Srirampore: Kalyan Banerjee
27.    Hoogly: Rachana Banerjee
28.    Medinipur: June Malia
29.    Purulia: Shantiram Mahato
30.    Bankura: Arup Chakraborty
31.    Bardhaman North: Dr. Sharmila Sarkar
32.    Bardhaman-Durgapur: Kirti Azad
33.    Asansol: Shatrughan Sinha
34.    Bolpur: Asit Kumar Mal
35.    Birbhum: Shatabdi Roy
36.    Bishnupur: Sujata Khan
37.    Coochbehar: Jagdish Chandra Basuniya

In the previous 2019 Lok Sabha elections, TMC secured victory in 22 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched 18, and the Congress managed two seats. This tally marked a decline from the 2014 general elections when TMC dominated in 34 out of the 42 seats.

As a part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc, TMC asserted its inability to reach a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress party. In an announcement on Sunday morning, TMC declared that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would not engage in any seat adjustment with Congress in the state as part of the INDIA coalition.

The electoral landscape now awaits the unfolding dynamics of this highly anticipated contest, with Mamata Banerjee's TMC seeking to retain its stronghold in West Bengal against a formidable opposition.