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New Delhi: The excitement for assembly elections has intensified in West Bengal. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its first list, which includes names of 144 candidates. There are a total of 294 seats in the state, which means the party has declared its candidates on more than half the seats.

Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari is being discussed the most in this list. He has been fielded from two important seats, Bhawanipur and Nandigram. This decision directly indicates a challenge to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, because in the 2021 elections, Suvendu had created a sensation by defeating Mamata from Nandigram.

BJP’s strategy regarding Mamta

Making Suvendu Adhikari contest from two seats in this list of BJP clearly means that the party wants a high-profile contest against Mamata Banerjee. Shubhendu is already strong in Nandigram, where he had won in the last election. At the same time, Bhawanipur is considered to be the stronghold of Mamta. After losing Nandigram in 2021, Mamata contested the by-election from Bhawanipur and won and became the Chief Minister. At that time the TMC MLA had left the seat for him.

Now the question is, from which seat will Mamata contest in the TMC list? Will she take on Shubhendu directly or adopt a new strategy? Everyone’s eyes are fixed on TMC’s list. This move of BJP is being considered smart because the campaign of Trinamool Congress mainly depends on Mamata Banerjee.

If Mamata gets stuck on one or two seats, it may be difficult for her to hold election meetings in the entire state. Her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is another big face, but the command of the party is in the hands of Mamata. In the last elections also, BJP had adopted a similar strategy, which paid off. BJP, which won only 3 seats in 2016, reached 77 seats in 2021.

Other important names in the list

In the list, former state president Dilip Ghosh has been given ticket from Kharagpur Sadar. Apart from this, Paritosh Das from Alipurduar and Dr. Shankar Ghosh from Siliguri have got the opportunity. Interestingly, this time BJP has mostly expressed confidence in its old workers, less space was given to outside faces.

However, participation of women is less. Only 11 women candidates were selected. Party sources say that this list has been prepared keeping in mind the ground reality of the state, so that a strong hold on local issues is maintained.

Waiting for Mamta’s list

This election can prove to be decisive for the politics of Bengal. It is clear from the first list of BJP that the party is in aggressive mode and is trying to break Mamata’s stronghold. The list has not yet come from TMC, but everyone is curious about Mamata’s decision.