West Bengal polls 2016: Left finalises 108 candidates, Buddhadeb not to contest

Kolkata, March 7: The Left Front on Monday finalised names of 108 candidates contesting the West Bengal Assembly elections in April and May, TV reports said. The list is expected to be announced later on Monday (March 7).

The Left will reportedly concede 80-85 seats to the Congress with which it is likely to contest the polls together.

The Left has left out a number of heavyweights and given tickets to a number of fresh faces.

Leader of the Opposition and former minister Surjya Kanta Mishra, other former ministers Kanti Ganguli and Ashok Bhattacharya and former MP Sujan Chakraborti are among the contestants.

Former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee not to contest this Assembly election

Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former industries minister Nirupam Sen and former housing minister Goutam Deb have decided to stay from this year's election owing to health issues. Besides, a number of former Left ministers like Rekha Goswami, Manab Mukherjee, Debesh Das have been ignored for this year's election.

The ruling Trinamool Congress announced candidates for all 294 seats of the state Assembly last week, hours after the Election Commission announced the election schedules in four states and one Union Territory.

Oneindia News