West Bengal bypolls: BJP fields Agnimitra Paul from Asansol, Keya Ghosh from Ballygunge

Kolkata: Ending speculation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced their candidates for the two bypolls in Ballygunge Assembly seat and Asansol Lok Sabha seat.

For the Asansol Lok Sabha seat that was vacated by former Union Minister Babul Supriyo, BJP has fielded party MLA of Asansol (South) Agnimitra Paul.

Agnimitra is a fashion designer-turned-politician and defeated TMC’s Sayoni Ghosh from Asansol (South) in the 2021 Assembly polls.

Asansol seat is prestigious for both parties as Babul was two times BJP MP from the seat. The seat got vacant after Babul left his post and defected to the TMC in September last year.

Agnimitra is contesting against TMC’s celebrity candidate Shatrughan Sinha.

No sooner did Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announce the name of the candidate than Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari taking to Twitter posted a video where TMC MLA Manoranjan Byapari was seen stating ‘Ek Bihari Sho Bimari’ (one Bihari is equivalent to hundred of diseases) and questioned Shatrughan Sinha about his take on the comment.

In the Ballygunge Assembly bypoll, the saffron camp has fielded Keya Ghosh against former BJP MP Babul Supriyo.

It can be noted that a section of minority community falling under Ballygunge Assembly constituency had shown their ‘angst’ against Babul from being the candidate.

Being ‘confident’ about the victory, the former BJP MP had claimed that he will soon hold talks with the community and make them understand that his candidature has been chosen by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Published on: Friday, March 18, 2022, 10:48 PM IST