TMC writes to EC against The Great Khali campaigning for BJP candidate Anupam Hazra

Kolkata, Apr 28: The Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has written to the Election Commission of India over WWE superstar wrestler The Great Khali campaigning for BJP candidate for Jadavpur constituency Anupam Hazra on April 26.

The letter states that Khali holds US citizenship and therefore shouldn't be allowed to influence the minds of Indian electors.

Champion wrestler 'The Great Khali' on Apr 26 turned up for the nomination filing of BJP candidate Anupam Hazra, drawing huge crowds that cheered him as he travelled in an open jeep.

People came out in droves to see India's first world heavyweight wrestling champion in WWE, whose actual name is Dalip Singh Rana.

'The Great Khali', towering at seven feet and one inch, waved and smiled at the colourful procession that travelled along with him and Hazra from Ranikuthi to Alipore Survey Building, where the nomination was filed, covering a distance of almost six kilometers.

Hazra was expelled from the Mamata Banerjee-led party in January this year for alleged anti-party activities and joined the BJP in March.

Hazra is up against Trinamool's filmstar candidate Mimi Chakraborty and CPI(M)'s Bikash Bhattacharya, a senior lawyer and a former Kolkata mayor.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had first defeated late former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the seat in 1984 on a Congress ticket.

The seat has been with the Trinamool Congress since the last few elections, except during 2004-09 when the CPI(M)'s Sujan Chakraborty became the MP.

While Sugato Bose is the incumbent MP, Banerjee has reposed faith in Chakraborty to help retain the seat.

Khali is now a US citizen.