Nominations poured in at West Bengal’s legislative assembly Thursday for Rajya Sabha polls, cementing TMC’s dominance with four filings against BJP’s one, across five contested seats.
Current seat shares – TMC four, BJP one – stem from the ruling party’s assembly stranglehold, presaging uncontested triumphs absent nomination snags (scrutiny March 6) or pullouts (deadline March 9).
Spotlight on TMC’s picks: Rajeev Kumar, whose DGP stint scripted security chapters; Babul Supriyo, the multifaceted IT head with artiste roots; Menaka Guruswamy, Supreme Court stalwart; and Koyel Mallick, cinema’s darling stepping into politics.
BJP fields Rahul Sinha, ex-national secretary and state helm-holder, embodying the party’s Bengal battle-hardened core.
Vacancies trace to TMC’s Subrata Bakshi, Ritabrata Banerjee, Saket Gokhale hitting term limits; Mousam Benazir Noor’s Congress leap post-resignation; and CPI(M)’s Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya bowing out, his seat BJP’s for the taking sans Left legislative presence.
This ritual underscores Mamata Banerjee’s unyielding Rajya Sabha sway, strategically deploying celebrities, cops, and counsel to amplify state voices nationally. For BJP, it’s a foothold maintenance exercise amid expansion dreams. As deadlines approach, procedural purity remains the lone wildcard in this scripted electoral theater.