Union minister Babul Supriyo, former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri, Metroman E Sreedharan, film star Kushboo Sundar as well as five sitting MPs were among the BJP’s star-studded list of candidates released on Sunday for the upcoming polls in four states.

The BJP has fielded four MPs, including Union minister Supriyo, in West Bengal, and two in Kerala, raising its stakes in these state polls by bringing its best-known faces from there into these electoral contests.

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Addressing a Press conference at the BJP headquarters, party general secretary Arun Singh along with Union ministers G Kishan Reddy and Debasree Chaudhuri released the names of 63 candidates for West Bengal Assembly polls, 17 candidates each for Assam and Tamil Nadu and 112 for the elections in Kerala. Mr Singh said the party will contest in 115 out of 140 Assembly seats in Kerala and in the remaining seats its allies will field their candidates.

For the high-stakes battle for Bengal Assembly, the BJP has fielded Union minister Babul Supriyo, three sitting MPs, a noted economist and several Tollywood personalties. Mr Supriyo is the BJP’s candidate from Tollygunge, where he will face off against Trinamul Congress heavy-weight Aroop Biswas.

Lok Sabha MPs Nishit Pramanik and Locket Chatterjee have been fielded from from Dinhata and Chunchura respectively. Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta is the BJP’s nominee for Tarakeshwar assembly segment. Outgoing MLA of Singur Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who had crossed over from the Trinamul Congress after it denied him ticket, has been fielded from the same seat by the BJP.

Besides Chatterjee, the party has given ticket to several Bengali film personalities, including Tanushree Chakraborty from Shyampur, Payal Sarkar from Behala Purba and actor Yash Dasgupta from Chanditala in Kolkata. The BJP also nominated former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri from Alipurduar. Lahiri has also served as chairman of the Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank and was a member of the Finance Commission from 2017 to 2020.

In Kerala, the BJP fielded ‘metroman’ E Sreedharan from Palakkad and former Union minister and sitting MP K J Alphons from the Kanjirappally Assembly seat. The party has also fielded sitting Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi from Thrissur.

For Tamil Nadu, the BJP announced actor-turned politician Khushbu Sundar as its candidate from the Thousand Lights seat. BJP’s women cell chief Vanathi Srinivasan fielded against film star Kamal Haasan from Coimbatore South seat.

~With inputs from PTI~