Kolkata Municipal Corporation Polls: BJP yet to announce candidate list

At a time when all the political parties have started campaigning on Sunday for the upcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls, West Bengal BJP is yet to announce candidate list.

The final candidate list of BJP for the KMC polls scheduled on December 19 will be announced on Monday, former national secretary Rahul Sinha said after the meeting.

The list has been prepared following a two-day marathon closed-door meeting at Hastings Election office, in the presence of BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar, BJP national Vice-President Dilip Ghosh, KMC Election Committee members, which finalized the candidates.


The party has selected candidates who are senior party workers, grassroot level workers and have been closely associated with its organization, a top-level BJP source told ET. After the assembly polls debacle, BJP is largely staying away from celebrity candidates, learning a lesson from the recently concluded Assembly polls.

“Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly and Baishali Dalimya are likely to get tickets for the KMC polls,” said the BJP sources.

It can be mentioned that BJP in Bengal had faced a poll debacle on trusting the newly inducted leaders from Trinamool Congress. In the civic polls, however, BJP will give importance to the old and traditional party workers, sources said.

“We are focussing on topical issues in the civic polls which are relevant to the citizens. We will focus on issues in different boroughs- open manholes, roads and on the issues like there are open electric wires that have claimed several lives. We will also highlight the failures of the Trinamool Congress,” party sources said.

There were two different meetings held on Saturday and Sunday, bifurcating the Kolkata zone into two segments-North and South Kolkata at the party's Hastings office in Kolkata.