BJP announces first list of candidates for Bengal polls

Kolkata: The BJP today announced its first list of 106 candidates for the West Bengal Assembly elections beginning April 18.

The BJP, which became the first among all contending political parties to have announced the list, had earlier said that it would field candidates in all 294 seats in both north and south Bengal.

The BJP Parliamentary Board has approved the first list, party state Secretary Ritesh Tiwari said. State party president Rahul Sinha submitted the first list, finalised by the BJP state election committee, to the Parliamentary Board in Delhi for approval.

Sources said that the second list would be finalised on March 14 to be approved by the party’s Parliamentary Board. The third list would be recommended to the Board a few days ahead of the election.

Tiwari said the candidates comprised new faces as well as old who had earlier unsuccessfully contested the last election.