Calcutta:
The new Trinamool Congressional Election Committee, headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will meet today at her Kalighat residence in Kolkata. The committee includes the head of the Trinamool Youth wing, Abhishek Banerjee, along with other senior party leaders.
Firhad Hakim, Subrata Bakshi, Sougata Roy, Derek O’Brien, Arup Biswas, Chandrima Bhattacharya, CM Jatua, Subrata Mukherjee, Sudip Bandopadhay, and Partha Chatterjee are other top committee leaders.
Trinamool is likely to finalize a list of candidates as the polls near West Bengal.
Sources say that while Mamata Banerjee has the last word, and all leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, will share their input and more young faces are likely to appear on the list of candidates.
The head of the Trinamool Congress will also meet with the head of RJD, Tejaswi Yadav.
An understanding is likely between Trinamool and RJD. Last month, an RJD delegation, led by senior party leaders such as Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Shyam Rajak, had met with Abhishek Banerjee, who is playing a key role in Trinamool’s electoral strategy.
Tejaswi Yadav’s RJD has considerable influence among Yadav’s votes, which has a significant impact in areas like Asansol. His party seeks to expand its presence in the Bengal and Assam polls.
The West Bengal elections will be held in eight phases from March 27 to April 29, the Election Commission announced on Friday, making them the longest polls ever conducted in the state, apparently due to concerns of violence. voiced most strongly by the BJP. The results will be announced on May 2.
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