New Delhi/Kolkata, March 29 The Congress on Sunday released its first list of 284 candidates for the 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 at once.
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 grand old party has fielded South Kolkata district president Pradip Prasad from the prestigious Bhabanipur Assembly seat, which is set to witness a high-voltage contest between Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Senior state Congress leader Suman Roy Chaudhuri, who has been nominated for the Manicktala seat, said the party has "carefully selected candidates with strong organizational roots".
"I am grateful to the party leadership for nominating me. I will try to meet the expectations. I will work with all to build up an infrastructure in the area for the future," Roy Chaudhuri told