Former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, tele star Rachana Banerjee among new names in TMC Lok Sabha list

Party drops five sitting MPs including actresses Nussrat Jahan, and Mimi Chakraborty

Former allrounder-batsman Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Berhampore seat, while Rachana Banerjee will contest from the Hooghly seat. (Express photos by Partha Paul)

Former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, and Bengali tele star Rachana Banerjee who hosts the popular show ‘Didi No 1’, where Mamata Banerjee recently participated, are among the new names in the TMC Lok Sabha list announced at a mega rally in the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Sunday.

Former allrounder-batsman Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Berhampore seat, known to be a bastion of Congress stalwart Adhir Chowdhury. Whereas, Rachana Banerjee will contest from the Hooghly seat. Another former cricketer Kirti Azad will contest from the Burdwan-Durgapur seat.

I'm eternally grateful to Smt. @MamataOfficial for welcoming me into the TMC family and trusting me with the responsibility to become people's voice in the Parliament.

As representatives of the people, it is our duty to uplift the poor and deprived, and that is what I hope to… pic.twitter.com/rFM5aYyrDg

— Yusuf Pathan (@iamyusufpathan) March 10, 2024

Five sitting MPs were dropped from the candidates’ list. Former IPS officer Chowdhury Mohan Jatua was dropped as he declined to contest citing his age. Young leader Bapi Halder has been fielded from the Mathurapur seat, which is currently held by Jatua. TMC strongman and Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who returned from the BJP last year, has also been dropped. Instead, state minister Partha Bhowmik has been fielded from Singh’s constituency.

Two Bengali movie stars – Mimi Chakraborty and Nussrat Jahan who won from Jadavpur and Basirhat, respectively, in the last elections – were also dropped. However, another actress Sayani Ghosh has been nominated from the Jadavpur seat. Whereas, Muslim leader Haji Nurul has been made the party nominee from Basirhat.

In Arambagh, sitting TMC MP Aparupa Poddar was also dropped and in her place, Mitali Bagh was chosen as the new candidate. In 2019, Poddar had won the election by a slender margin.

Veteran party leader Sougata Roy has been renominated from Dumdum, and so has been Sudip Bandhopadhyay from the Kolkata North constituency.

Announcing the list, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “Our party will contest outside West Bengal as well. We will field candidates in Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh also.”

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

Ravik Bhattacharya

Ravik Bhattacharya is the Chief of Bureau of The Indian Express, Kolkata. Over 20 years of experience in the media industry and covered politics, crime, major incidents and issues, apart from investigative stories in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Andaman Nicobar islands. Ravik won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 for political reporting. Ravik holds a bachelor degree with English Hons from Scottish Church College under Calcutta University and a PG diploma in mass communication from Jadavpur University. Ravik started his career with The Asian Age and then moved to The Statesman, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. ... Read More

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