In a first, Trinamool Congress fields 40.5% women candidates

KOLKATA: In a first, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) has fielded 40.5 per cent women candidates in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, up from 35 per cent last time. 

West Bengal Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee announced the names of the 42 candidates on Tuesday, out of which 17 are women. 

“I want to thank Ma Mati Manush. Greetings to all. Today we announced our list of 2019 Lok Sabha candidates for Bengal & some other States.I am all the more happy & proud because 41% of our candidates (17/42 seats) are women. Trinamool’s list speaks for itself #UnityInDiversity,” tweeted the party chief.

I want to thank Ma Mati Manush. Greetings to all. Today we announced our list of 2019 Lok Sabha candidates for Bengal & some other States.I am all the more happy & proud because 41% of our candidates (17/42 seats) are women. Trinamool’s list speaks for itself #UnityInDiversity — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) March 12, 2019

“This is a proud moment for us," Banerjee said while briefing the media. “I would be more happy if I could have given 50 percent to women.”

These candidates and the constituencies from which they'll contest are:

1. Satabdi Roy: Birbhum
2. Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar: Barasat
3. Sreemati Dev Varma (Moon Moon Sen): Asansol
4. Arpita Ghosh: Balurghat
5. Mausam Noor: Maldaha North
6. Rupali Biswas: Ranaghat
7. Mohua Moitra: Krishnanagar
8. Mamata Thakur: Bangaon
9. Sajda Ahmed: Uluberia
10. Nusrat Jahan: Basirhat
11. Pratima Mondal: Jaynagar
12. Mimi Chakraborty: Jadavpur
13. Mala Roy: Kolkata South
14. Dr Ratna De Nag: Hooghly
15. Aparupa Poddar: Arambag
16. Beerbaha Soren: Jhargram
17. Mamtaz Sanghamita: Bardhaman-Durgapur

TMC's list comes two days after Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik announced 33 per cent reservation for women in the allocation of Lok Sabha seats in the coming general elections.

"I would like to announce here at Kendrapara, the karma bhumi of legendary Biju Babu, that Odisha will send 33 per cent women to Parliament in the coming elections," said Patnaik on Sunday as reported by news agency IANS.

"I call upon the national political parties that they should be true to their words, and must follow what they are propagating for women empowerment," he added.

TMC also dropping 10 sitting MPs and brought in 18 new faces for the Lok Sabha election 2019. The list is a mix of greenhorns and veteran political players.

"Our list comprises both old and new, experienced and greenhorns. Today, we have announced our list for 2019 Lok Sabha candidates for Bengal and some other states," Banerjee said.

The list includes seven candidates from the Muslim community, the bedrock of her support base, and 12 from the scheduled castes and schedule tribes. Muslims roughly form 30 per cent of the state's electorate.
Banerjee also announced that the TMC will be contesting from Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, and Andaman and Bihar seats.

Polling for the Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases starting April 11 and will conclude on May 19 and counting of votes on May 23. West Bengal will have polling in all seven phases, beginning April 11 and concluding on May 19. 

"Mamata Banerjee is an inspiration for many women and we are thankfully to her that she has chosen more number of women to fight politically,” said Mohua Moitra, current Karimpur MLA who will contest from Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat this time.

With inputs from Kamalika Sengupta