Mithun Chakraborty, Jogen, Ritabrata file Rajya Sabha nomination from West Bengal

KOLKATA: Four Trinamool Congress candidates including actor Mithun Chakraborty and one CPI(M) candidate today filed nominations from the state for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Five Rajya Sabha seats will fall vacant in the state in April, for which elections are scheduled on February 7.

Trinamool Congress candidates Mithun Chakraborty, painter Jogen Chowdhury, K D Singh and Ahmad Hassan today filed their nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections.

CPI(M) candidate and SFI all India general secretary Ritabrata Banerjee also filed his nomination for the RS seat.

"I thank Mamata Banerjee for keeping faith in me. I will try and work to live up to her and the expectations of the people of Bengal," Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty, a national award winning actor, has been known for his closeness to former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and late CPI(M) stalwart Subhas Chakraborty, who was also the sports minister during the Left Front regime.

Mithun was also seen campaigning for Subhas's wife during a by-election in 2009, after Chakraborty's death.

When asked about his closeness with the Left leaders, Chakraborty said, "It was not a political relation, but a personal one. And they (Basu and Chakraborty) still have the same place in me. It is the greatness of Didi, that despite all these, she nominated me from her party."