TMC Announces Journalist Sagarika Ghose, Three Others As Rajya Sabha Candidates

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday named journalist Sagarika Ghose, Sushmita Dev, Mamata Bala Thakur, and Nadimul Haque as their four candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. According to the reports, journalist Sagarika Ghose, who penned biographies of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was named by the TCM supremo herself.

Sushmita Dev, a former Lok Sabha member and president of the Congress' women's wing joined TMC in August 2021. Famous community leader Dalit Matua and former Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur have been promoted by the ruling party of West Bengal. The reports added that TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque will get another term.

Elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats across 15 states are slated for February 27.

Notably, West Bengal has 16 Rajya Sabha seats, out of which, 14 are bagged by the Trinamool Congress. Terms for 5 seats are going to end in April 2024, for which, the voting will be held and TMC has announced its candidates for 4 seats today.

These four seats are currently held by TMC's Haque, Subhashis Chakraborty, Abir Biswas, and Dr Santanu Sen. While, the Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi holds the fifth seat.

MP Santanu Sen, a former chief of the Indian Medical Association, said, "Since the Congress could not win any assembly seat in 2021, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will target the fifth seat."

Though the TMC has its dominance in the 294 Bengal legislative assembly, still the saffron front has 75 members, and they will eye to outclass Congress stalwart.

"Any decision regarding fielding a candidate from Bengal will be taken by our central leadership," Bengal BJP's chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.