BJP forced to replace actress Roopa Ganguly as candidate

Kolkata, Mar 22: BJP was today forced to replace actor-turned-politician Roopa Ganguly as its candidate for the Kolkata Municipal polls after her name did not feature in the city electoral rolls.

The backout came as a major embarrassment as, according to party insiders, she was to be the face of the BJP in the KMC polls and the party would have projected her as the mayor if it had won the KMC polls.

"As the state election commission is playing into the hands of ruling Trinamool Congress, they have hatched a conspiracy so that Roopa Ganguly cannot contest the polls. We condemn this. We have decided to replace Ganguly with another actress Sarbari Mukherjee," state BJP chief Rahul Sinha said.

According to the West Bengal Municipal Election Act, no person who is not a voter of a municipality area is not eligible to contest polls in that municipality area.

Ganguly, who had become a household name in India after she played the role of Draupadi in megaserial "Mahabharata", had joined BJP in January this year. Ganguly alleged that despite repeated attempts her name could not be enlisted in voters' list in Kolkata.

PTI