The Congress has announced its first list of candidates for various states, including Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement came last evening, revealing a total of 57 candidates. Congress has placed its trust in Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the anticipated candidate in Berhampur. The list includes former Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya and Nepal Mahato. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s candidacy from Berhampur was already anticipated.

However, the announcement of candidates stirred speculations. Mohammad Murtaza Hossain (Bakul) has been nominated as the candidate for Jangipur. In the political arena, Ali Imran Ramz alias Vicor’s name was doing the rounds as the candidate for Raiganj. From Hasan, former MLA Milton Rashid is a candidate from Birbhum, posing a challenge to Trinamul’s star candidate and actress, Shatabdi Roy. Mostak Alam has been named as the Congress candidate for Malda North. Interestingly, Congress hasn’t fielded Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury from Malda South, instead opting for his son Isha Khan Chowdhury.

Former MP Pradip Bhattacharya and Nepal Mahato have also been announced as candidates for North Kolkata and Purulia respectively. It’s worth mentioning that Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury hinted at announcing several candidates from Berhampur soon, as indicated last Wednesday. Nepal Mahato’s potential candidacy in Purulia had also been hinted at. However, this raised objections from the Left Front’s Forward Bloc.

Amidst seat-sharing negotiations and complexities, Congress has declared candidates for 8 seats. Left parties will convene tomorrow for a meeting. The decision taken after the announcement of the first list of candidates by Congress remains to be seen. The All India Secular Front (AISF) also yesterday announced its candidates for eight out of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal.

The eight constituencies are Malda North, Jaynagar (SC), Murshidabad, Barasat, Basirhat, Mathurapur, Serampore, and Jhargram. Barring Jhargram, all the other seven constituencies have a sizable population of minority voters. Sources in the AISF said that initially, the party was willing to field candidates in Jadavpur and Diamond Harbour constituencies, both in South 24-Parganas district, but later it decided to give away its stake in Jadavpur in support of the CPM candidate, Srijan Bhattacharya. However, dialogues are still ongoing with the CPM leadership on the possibilities of AISF fielding a candidate in Diamond Harbour, where Trinamul Congress has re-nominated its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The BJP is yet to announce its candidate for the seat. Naushad Siddique, the lone AISF representative in the West Bengal Assembly, has already expressed his desire to contest from Diamond Harbour, if the party deems him fit.