Kolkata, March 19 – There were clear indications leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that a section within the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal intended to promote younger faces among their elected representatives. However, it was said that Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee prevailed, and several of her older associates were also elected to the Lok Sabha.
If there were such indications, the list of probable candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections reflects a significant implementation of the "new" plan.
The "old vs. new" issue was so intense that it spilled onto the streets, with posters and banners proclaiming Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the party, as the party's "general".
Subsequently, there was an apparent consensus that while Mamata Banerjee would remain the supremo – or the face of the party – her younger protégé would lead the party from the front.
The main division appeared to be between running the state administration and the party organization.
Since then, much of the organizational drive has come from 39-year-old Abhishek Banerjee, who is considered Mamata Banerjee's heir apparent.
On Tuesday, after Mamata Banerjee and her nephew jointly announced the list, the latter added that out of the 291 candidates, four were under the age of 31 (1%), and 38 were between 31 and 40 (13%).
The largest group consisted of 88 candidates aged between 41 and 50 (31%), and 89 between 51 and 60 (32%).
The remaining 47 candidates were aged between 61 and 70, representing 17% of the list, while 23 candidates were aged 71-80 (8%), and only two were in their 80s (1%).
Mamata Banerjee was flanked by Abhishek Banerjee, a three-time Lok Sabha MP, on one side, and the 75-year-old state party unit president Subrata Bakshi on the other.
Bakshi, also a Rajya Sabha MP, remained quiet during the media conference.
The list reflected a new mix in age, as well as gender, social, and religious combinations, with 52 women, 78 from the Scheduled Castes (SC), 17 from the Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 47 from minority communities.
Out of the 291 candidates announced, reportedly 141 were new faces, and 135 were among the sitting MLAs, while 74 were dropped and 15 shifted from their current constituencies.
The remaining three seats in the 294-member Assembly will be contested by the Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) in the Darjeeling hills.
Among those dropped from the Trinamool's list was Manoranjan Byapari, who is considered one of the pioneering authors in Bengali Dalit literature despite his humble life. Official documents put his age at around 60, but some earlier reports suggest he is in his 70s.
The author took to social media to express his disappointment at being informed of the development through phone calls, breaking his afternoon nap. However, he added that he had been aware of the possibility for some time.
"I am a person who spent his life lying on a railway platform with an empty stomach. Therefore, I know the sufferings of the poor. I know how the poor lose what is rightfully theirs," he wrote on Facebook.
He said that he had entered politics with little and would leave the same way. He also mentioned his work in the region and resistance against crime and smuggling. He wrote about the factionalism he faced as an MLA and indicated a return to his literary life.
However, he emphasised that Mamata Banerjee has built the Trinamool with hard work and through sacrifices, and has every right to decide its candidates. This was also the case with sitting minister Tajmul Hossain, 68, as well as septuagenarians Rabindra Nath Ghosh, Biplab Roy Chowdhury, and Paresh Pal.
However, some younger names also featured among those who could not make it to the party list.
The West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in two phases, on April 23 and 29, with the results to be declared on May 4.