Three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik, have submitted their nominations for the upcoming bypolls to three vacant Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal. These candidates were earlier members of the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha but resigned before completing their terms, leading to the need for these bypolls.
The trio officially joined the BJP on July 9 and were swiftly announced as the party’s nominees for the Rajya Sabha bypolls. They presented their nomination papers to the Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly in the presence of notable figures like Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP’s West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya.
On the electoral front, the BJP nominees are expected to secure all three seats based on the current composition of the West Bengal Assembly, where the BJP holds 208 seats. To challenge a BJP nominee, an opposition candidate would need a minimum of 70 votes. Despite the Trinamool Congress officially having 80 legislators, a significant portion aligns with a faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee, leaving only 20 supporting the party’s core leadership.
Following the BJP’s nomination of Roy, Dev, and Baraik, some longstanding members of the party in West Bengal expressed discontent, citing a previous stance against admitting members from the Trinamool Congress. However, BJP’s West Bengal unit president Bhattacharya defended the decision, emphasizing the clean records of the three leaders and the absence of corruption allegations during their tenure with the Trinamool Congress.
