Former Union minister of state for home affairs Nisith Pramanik today filed his nomination papers to contest Lok Sabha Polls from Cooch Behar on the BJP ticket after offering pujas at Madan Mohan Temple.

Rajya Sabha Member and Rajbanshi leader Nagendra Roy and Cooch Behar district BJP president Sukumar Roy and two other MLAs accompanied Mr Pramanik, who was elected as an MP from Cooch Behar in 2019.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Pramanik said, “Several people have responded me in a positive manner. I hope majority of people in Cooch Behar will extend overwhelming support to me like 2019 keeping in mind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee to bring in development in India as well as in West Bengal, comprising Cooch Behar district.”

Significantly, Rajya Sabha Member Nagendra Roy, who was elected on the BJP ticket and recently expressed his unhappiness over the party on the issue of ‘commitment’ for a proposed separate state or Union Territory, refused to comment on Mr Pramanik’s prospect in the upcoming LS polls from Cooch Behar when the Trinamul Congress leadership is desperately trying hard to take on Mr Pramanik, who joined the BJP in 2019 from the TMC.

When asked to comment, party president Mr Roy said, “Other MLAs were not present today because they are in a party meeting in Kolkata today.”

It may be noted that the BJP has dropped John Barla, who was elected as an MP from Alipurduar and became Union minister of state for minority affairs. The BJP has fielded Manoj Tigga, a tribal leader and MLA from Madarihat, from Alipurduar. Mr Tigga has started campaigning with party workers and leaders as a district president of the party despite alleged non-cooperation from Mr Barla.

It may be noted that the Lok Sabha polls will be held in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri on 19 April in the first phase. But the BJP has not announced its candidate for Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seat.

Similarly, the BJP has not yet announced its candidates for Darjeeling and Raiganj LS seats. But the BJP has announced its candidates for Balurghat, North Malda and Malda South.

Notably, the BJP bagged seven seats, including Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Raiganj of the eight from North Bengal in 2019.

Sources said the BJP leadership in North Dinajpur has been demanding son of the soil for Raiganj LS seat on an outsider issue.

Interestingly, the BJP has bagged the Darjeeling LS seat in three consecutive terms since 2009 but it has changed its candidate in every LS polls.

Though Raju Bista was elected from Darjeeling in 2019, the party has not yet nominated him.

Apparently confident Mr Bista recently told reporters: “I will break the tradition.”

According to sources, the former foreign secretary and son-of-soil Harsh Vardhan Shringla is one the contenders for Darjeeling LS seat.

BJP candidates Sukanta Majumdar, Khagen Murmu and Srirupa Mitra Chowdhury have started campaigning in their respective LS seats Balurghat, Malda North and Malda South.

When the TMC has nominated its candidates in all seats of West Bengal, the Congress has not yet officially announced its candidates for Darjeeling and other LS seats like Raiganj and two parliamentary segments in Malda district.

In a significant political development, when the vice-president of Malda BJP district committee Dipali Biswas, former MLA from Gazol joined the TMC, the Rajya Sabha member on the TMC ticket Mousam Noor apparently upset having failed to manage a ticket to contest Lok Sabha polls from Malda North.

Speaking to the reporters Ms Noor disclosed her unhappiness over the decision of the party and her plans to take on the BJP. Ms Noor said that she would be working for the party as a worker.

“I expected the party would nominate me to contest from Malda North. I was defeated in 2019 since another family member contested the LS polls on the Congress ticket and the BJP won the seat. My plan was to recover the seat from the BJP this year,” Ms Noor said.