BJP names 19 new candidates from West Bengal, fields Sandeshkhali violence survivor for LS polls

Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released its fifth list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party's candidate list from West Bengal is full of surprises. The BJP has named 19 new candidates from West Bengal, with one of them being a survivor of the Sandeshkhali violence.

The BJP has fielded Rekha Patra from Basirhat, who is a resident of Sandeshkhali, and was one of the first women to raise her voice during protests against alleged sexual assault by three expelled TMC leaders Sheikh Shahjahan, Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar. All three accused are now behind bars.

Apart from fielding Patra from Basirhat, BJP also changed the seat of two of its incumbent MPs - the party's former state chief Dilip Ghosh and ex-Union minister Debasree Chowdhury.

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BJP has named 111 total candidates in its fifth list for Lok Sabha polls, out of which 19 are for West Bengal. 

Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly, who joined the BJP recently, was nominated from the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat, a stronghold of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and his family.

The incumbent MP from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, who returned to the BJP this month after defecting to the Trinamool Congress two years ago, was re-nominated from the same seat.

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BJP's surprise candidature for Rekha Patra

The most prominent choice of BJP for West Bengal has been Rekha Patra, a woman from the troubled region of Sandeshkhali and the first woman to raise her voice for the women in the area.

Rekha Patra was reportedly a victim of torture by now-suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates. Sheikh, a key accused in sexual assault and land grab charges in Sandeshkhali, was arrested last month in connection with an assault on Enforcement Directorate officers on January 5.

Apart from Patra, Jayanta Ray was re-nominated in Jalpaiguri while former TMC leader Tapas Ray, who recently joined the BJP, got the ticket for the Kolkata North constituency.

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Amrita Roy, who belongs to the royal family of Krishnanagar, has been nominated for the Krishnanagar seat and will take on TMC's Mahua Moitra.

(With inputs from PTI)