Kolkata, February 27 – The Trinamool Congress announced on Friday the names of its candidates for the vacant Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal, with several surprising choices.
The first surprise was the selection of Rajeev Kumar, the recently retired acting Director General of Police (DGP) of West Bengal.
The second surprise was the selection of Babul Supriyo, the current West Bengal Minister of Information Technology and a singer-turned-politician, who is also a former two-time Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former Union Minister in the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet.
The third surprise was the selection of Menaka Guruswamy, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, who was the legal counsel for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the legal battle regarding the recent raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of I-PAC's founder director, Pratik Jain.
The fourth person named by the Trinamool Congress as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha in West Bengal is the popular Bengali actress, Koel Mallick.
"We are pleased to announce the candidature of Babul Supriyo, Rajeev Kumar (Former DGP, West Bengal), Menaka Guruswamy, and Koel Mallick for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. We extend our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to them. May they continue to uphold Trinamool's enduring legacy of resilience and its unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of every Indian," a statement issued by the Trinamool Congress on Friday night read.
Out of the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal for which elections will be held on March 16, the ruling Trinamool Congress is expected to comfortably win four, while the BJP will have to settle for one, based on the numerical strength of the two parties in the state Assembly.
Three of these Rajya Sabha seats will become vacant with the end of the current terms of the sitting Trinamool members: Subrata Bakshi, Ritabrata Banerjee, and Saket Gokhale.
The fourth seat, currently held by the former Trinamool MP, Mausam Benazir Noor, who recently resigned from the Rajya Sabha and joined the Congress, will also become vacant. Based on the Trinamool's current strength in the West Bengal Assembly, the party is expected to comfortably win from these four seats.
The term of CPI-M Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya is also ending. Since the party no longer has any strength in the Assembly, the BJP will be able to easily elect its lone candidate from that seat.
It remains to be seen who the BJP will nominate as its candidate for that lone seat in the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.
