Left Front fields 26 new faces in Lok Sabha polls in Bengal

Kolkata, Mar 5: The Left Front on Wednesday announced its candidates for 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal and fielded 26 new faces with over ten candidates who are of less than 40 years of age.

The LF, which had faced severe drubbing in all the elections since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, has dropped winning candidates of five seats out 15 which it had won last time.

"After discussion in the Left Front we are announcing this list of candidates. We hope that Left candidates will win," Front chairman Biman Bose said.

Five sitting MPs were dropped from the list, while the new faces included Subhasini Ali and the youngest being the 25-year-old Sheikh Ibrahim Ali from the Tamluk seat.

The 26 seats which will see new LF faces also include candidates who had lost the elections from other Lok Sabha or Assembly segments in 2009 and 2011.

Out of the 15 Lok Sabha segments, Alipurduar, Arambagh, Asansol, Balurghat, Bankura, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Bishnupur, Bolpur, Ghatal, Jalpaiguri, Kanthi, Medinipur, Purulia and Coochbehar, which the Left had won back in 2009, Coochbehar, Balurghat, Ghatal, Bardhaman Purba and Bardhaman-Durgapur will have new faces.

The Ghatal Lok Sabha segment, which was represented by veteran CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, will now have CPI leader Santosh Rana taking on Trinamool candidate and actor Dev. Dasgupta had opted out of the polls due to old age issues.

PTI