Mamata Banerjee nominates Actor Mithun Chakraborty for Rajya Sabha seat
Kolkata – Trinamool Congress will field actor Mithun Chakraborty as their candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections from West Bengal. The elections will be held on February 7. Tenure of five sitting Rajya Sabha MPs from the state will be over in April this year and the state Assembly will elect five new members before April to fill up the vacancies in the upper House. Trinamool Congress all India general secretary Mukul Roy said on Saturday that the party will field Mithun Chakraborty as one of their candidates. He also hinted that they might contest all the five seats this time.
“Chakraborty is a well-known film personality. He has devoted his life to the cause of cultural and social activities with great success. He is an asset not only of West Bengal, but also of the entire country. We have decided to honor the actor by sending him to the Rajya Sabha,” Roy said on Saturday. The last date for filing nominations for is January 28. Notifications for holding the elections will be made on January 21.
Four of the five sitting MPs whose term will be over in April belong to the opposition CPIM and left parties. CPIM MPs whose terms will be over in April include Citu state president Shyamal Chakraborty, former Kolkata mayor Prasanta Chatterjee, Tarini Roy. The term of Forward Bloc MP Barun Mukherjee will also be over in April. The other MP belong to minority community and was elected to the Rajya Sabha with support from the CPIM and Congress.
But this time CPIM and Left parties would not be able to send four MPs to the Rajya Sabha because of their historic defeat in the 2011 Assembly elections in the state. The CPIM and the Left parties would be able to ensure victory of just one member to the Rajya Sabha this time as they don’t have the required number of MLAs for electing four MPs. The Left parties had won just 62 seats in the state Assembly during 2011 elections. With such a low number of MLAs, the Left parties would be able to send only one MP. Informed sources in the CPIM said on Saturday that they will nominate Citu president Shyamal Chakraborty this time too.
Trinamool Congress has 186 MLAs in state Assembly. Besides, it is enjoying support of 6 other MLAs. The last few months have seen several MLAs from different opposition parties joining Trinamool Congress. The West Bengal Assembly, which has 294 members, will allow Trinamool Congress to directly field three candidates who may win uncontested. For the fourth and the fifth seat, there will be vote through ballots. For the fourth seat, Trinamool Congress should get somewhat easy ride as it has the support of 192 MLAs, combining the outside supports, which is around 65.3 per cent of total votes.
