Senior BJP leader and spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the party has given importance to women and youth, besides selecting advocates, doctors and teachers as their candidates.
The BJP Monday released its candidate list for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) election scheduled to take place on December 19. The party announced names of its candidates for all the 144 wards under KMC.
Senior BJP leader and spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the party has given importance to women and youth, besides selecting advocates, doctors and teachers as their candidates.
About 48 of our candidates are below the age of 48. A large number of our candidates are women. There are also advocates, doctors and teachers who have been made candidates,” said Bhattacharya after announcing the names. According to him, the majority of candidates are old-time party workers.
This is a major change from BJP’s previous candidate list for the state Assembly polls earlier this year where the party gave tickets to those who came from other political parties. This time, there was also no representation from the film and television industry in the list.
The State Election Commission had on Thursday issued the poll notification for KMC, scheduling the election on December 19. The last date for filing of nominations is December 1 and counting will begin on December 22.
The civic election in Howrah was deferred as the matter is pending in the Calcutta High Court.
The BJP alleged that the TMC government does not want to hold pending elections to civic bodies in a single phase because it is “scared”. In an affidavit to the High Court, the state government said Kolkata and Howrah were considered first because of better vaccination coverage.
The TMC, Left Front and Congress have already announced names of their candidates for the KMC election.