LS Polls: West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury files nomination from Berhampore

Murshidabad (West Bengal) [India], April 24 (ANI): West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury whose spat with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was popularly considered to be the reason for the breakdown of seat-sharing talks between the ruling party and the INDIA bloc in the state, filed his nomination from Berhampore Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday.
The TMC has fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan from the Lok Sabha seat.
"My party has asked me to fight and so I have filed my nomination papers as per procedure. I have done so before...While I was on my way to file my nomination people showed their support to me. People from Murshidabad are with us. This shows that people have accepted us," Chowdhury said speaking to reporters ahead of filing his nomination.
Chowdhury defeated TMC's Apurba Sarkar from the constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with a margin of 80,696 votes.
The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held a rally after Chowdhury filed his nomination.
Though still a part of the Opposition bloc--INDIA, the TMC chose to go it alone in Bengal and announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state from a show of strength at Brigade Parade Grounds of Kolkata earlier.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC took the lion's share of the electoral spoils in the state, at 34, while the BJP had to be content with just 2 seats. The CPI(M) and the Congress won 2 and 4 seats, respectively.
However, in a poll stunner that few saw coming, the BJP turned the tables on the ruling TMC in the 2019 polls, winning to 18 seats. The ruling party in the state saw its tally reduced to 22. The Congress fared a lowly third in the tally with just 2 seats while the Left Front was down to just a lone seat.
With Mamata's TMC facing public scrutiny after a string of arrests of its top leaders and ministers in connection with the primary teachers' recruitment scam, the alleged horrific abuse of women in Sandeshkhali and attacks on central agencies, the BJP senses a chance to emerge as the largest single party in the state in the Lok Sabha elections this year and get a stronger foothold in the state going into the 2026 Assembly elections.
After polling was conducted for three North Bengal seats in the opening phase, Darjeeling, Balurghat and Raiganj are set to go to polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
Voting for the remaining constituencies of West Bengal will be held on May 4, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4. (ANI)