Eyeing a big win in the upcoming parliamentary elections in the North Malda seat, the BJP unit in Malda is now looking for a heavyweight candidate in the constituency to be pitted against Mausam Noor, the niece of the legendary Congress leader, the late ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, who recently switched allegiance to the Trinamul Congress. Ms Noor is the sitting Member of Parliament of North Malda.

“North Malda and Balurghat in South Dinajpur being the blue-eye constituencies for leaders of the saffron brigade, there is a long list of names within the party who wish to fight from these seats,” a party leader said.

It is also learnt that the local saffron brigade is looking for either a local candidate or a big name, possibly a celebrity candidate, to be a contestant from North Malda. District leaders said that the final decision will come from the upper-most tier of the party organisation and that they can only suggest a few names.

READ | Cousin Isha Khan of Congress to take on Mausum Noor: ‘She humiliated uncle Ghani Khan Choudhury’

According to a party leader here, following the huge success of the BJP in both Malda and Balurghat in the last panchayat elections, in which the party gained the second spot behind the Trinamul Congress, these two places have gained much attention in the eyes of the saffron leaders countrywide. Some state leaders, including Mukul Roy, Rupa Ganguly, and Sayantan Basu, have already shown their interest in North Malda as their electoral battlefield for the Lok Sabha polls, the leader added.

“We have some particular norms regarding selection of candidature. Usually, a panel of a few names marked one, two or three is sent to the central committee of the party and they make the final decision.

Any person from outside the party may also write to the state and national leadership showing his or her desire to fight for the seat of choice. And this time, we decided to advocate either for a local or a celebrity candidate, social or political. The rest is up to the national leaders to select the right candidate and we will accept him or her,” the leader added.

The state Vice-President of the BJP, Biswapriya Roychoudhury, however, said, “Nothing has been finalised so far, but there are a few names we are thinking about. The final decision will be taken by the central committee of the party.”