Congress releases first list of 284 candidates for West Bengal assembly polls

The Congress on Sunday released its first list of 284 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls, fielding former state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Baharampur and ex-TMC MP Mausam Noor from Malatipur. The Congress, which is going solo in the polls for the 294 assembly seats in the state, announced the names of 284 candidates in one go.

While Chowdhury has been fielded from Baharampur and Noor, who joined the Congress recently from Malatipur, the party also fielded Madhap Rai from Darjeeling, Abdul Hannan from Sujapur, Susmita Biswas from Dum Dum, Gautam Bhattacharya from Diamond Harbour, Souvik Mukherjee from Asansol Dakshin and Prasenjit Puitandi from Asansol Uttar.

The announcement of candidates came a day after top Congress leaders held detailed deliberations on the list for the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections during the meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) here.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, along with AICC general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal and leaders from West Bengal, had attended the meeting.

Prominent attendees also included former West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and CEC members -- Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry, Salman Khurshid, T S Singhdeo, K J George, P L Punia and Amee Yajnik -- besides AICC in-charge for West Bengal, Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

Mir had told reporters that the party had received 2,500 applications for the 294 assembly seats.

"We will contest all 294 assembly seats in West Bengal, leaving none vacant. This was the wish of our workers and rank and file in the state since the beginning. We have received 2,500 applications for these 294 seats," Mir said.

West Bengal assembly elections are being held in two phases on April 23 and 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.

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