Kolkata, March 19 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its second list of candidates for the upcoming two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal, naming nominees for 111 more constituencies.

With this, the party has announced a total of 255 candidates for the 294-member House. The first list, released on March 14, contained the names of candidates for 144 constituencies. The remaining 39 candidates are yet to be announced.

However, it is not yet clear whether the BJP will field its own party candidates from the three hill constituencies of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong, or leave them for its hill alliance partner and Bimal Gurung-founded Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).

The second list features three candidates from the entertainment industry. Former Rajya Sabha member and actress Roopa Ganguly has been fielded from Sonapur (Dakshin) in South 24 Parganas district, where she will face Trinamool Congress candidate and actress-turned-politician Lovely Moitra.

Actor Hiran Chattopadhyay, also a sitting BJP legislator, is named in the second list. However, instead of his erstwhile constituency of Kharagpur (Sadar) in West Midnapore district, this time Chattopadhyay has been nominated from Shyampur assembly constituency in neighbouring Howrah district.

The party has already announced that former state BJP president and ex-national vice-president Dilip Ghosh will contest from Kharagpur (Sadar) this time.

The third celebrity candidate named in the second list is another actress-turned-politician, Papiya Adhikari, who has been fielded from Tollygunge assembly constituency in South Kolkata.

The party’s former Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore constituency, Arjun Singh, is the BJP candidate this time from Noapara in North 24 Parganas district. Senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court, Kaustav Chattopadhya, who joined the BJP from Congress before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is the party’s candidate from Barrackpore assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district.

Former party Lok Sabha member from Cooch Behar constituency and former Union Minister of state for home affairs, Nishith Pramanik, is the BJP’s candidate from Mathabhanga assembly constituency in the Cooch Behar district this time.

Most of the sitting BJP legislators have been re-nominated this time, both in the first and second lists.

–IANS

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