The Trinamool Congress on Thursday announced its lists of candidates for the municipal corporations of Bidhannagar, Chandannagar, Siliguri and Asansol where polls are scheduled to be held on January 22. The Bidhannagar list features two-time former mayor Sabyasachi Dutta, who returned to the Trinamool recently after quitting the party for the BJP in 2019.
A former Trinamool MLA, Dutta has been named the party’s candidate from ward 31 of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC). Dutta was the mayor of Bidhannagar before switching to the saffron camp in 2019. Krishna Chakraborty, the former chairperson of the board of administrators at BMC, has also been made a party candidate for the upcoming polls.
In Siliguri, former state minister Gautam Deb has been made a party candidate.
The candidate lists were decided at a meeting chaired by party supremo Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Thursday. Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, senior party colleagues and leaders of districts where the four civic bodies are located were present at the meeting.
Speaking to reporters, state minister and newly-appointed Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim said, “We considered three aspects before finalising the candidates. These were clean image, winnability and acceptability. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present at the meeting and the names were finalised unanimously.”
The West Bengal State Election Commission had on Monday announced that the poll to Siliguri, Chandannagar, Bidhannagar and Asansol municipal corporations will be held on January 22.
According to sources in TMC, some sitting councillors in these civic bodies who do not have clean images and have earned the party a bad name are likely to be dropped.
“Those who have bad reputation or have been non-performers are most likely not to get the party ticket this time. The report on our councillors prepared by I-PAC will also play a key role while selecting candidates,” another senior TMC leader said on the condition of anonymity.
The ruling party had dropped 39 out of 124 sitting councillors in the December 19 polls to Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
