Kolkata: West Bengal's ruling party All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on Friday released the first list of its candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. The party will not contest from Kuresong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling seats, leaving the three seats to the party's allies.
Three candidates of the Bimal Gurung faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), an ally of the TMC, will be contesting from the remaining three seats in Darjeeling.
"This time we have stressed on more youths and women candidates. Around 23-24 sitting MLAs have been dropped and there are names of about 50 women, 42 Muslims, 79 SC and 17 ST candidates in the list," Banerjee said.
Exuding confidence in returning to power for the third consecutive time, Banerjee termed it as the "easiest" election the TMC has ever faced.
"After we come to power we will create Vidhan Parishad to accommodate senior and experienced leaders. We could not accommodate everybody especially those above the age of 80 years," she said.
"I will be contesting from Nandigram, my party colleague Sovandeb Chattopadhyay will be contesting from Bhawanipore seat," she said.
Banerjee also challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to deploy as much central force as it wants but the TMC will still emerge victoriously.
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay will fight from Mamata home turf Bhowanipore. Idris Ali will contest from Murshidabad and Aditi Munshi, a new entrant, will fight from Rajarhat.
While actress Sayanikta will contest from Bankuda seat, cricketer Manoj Tiwari will fight from Howrah's Shivpur.
The party has also given poll tickets to 79 from Scheduled Caste (SC) and 17 from Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories. Fifty women and 42 Muslim candidates will also fight the elections from the TMC camp.
"No tickets will be given to candidates who are 80 years and above," the TMC chief said.
