BJP fields SS Ahluwalia from Asansol

Kolkata: BJP on Wednesday finally named former Union minister S.S. Ahluwalia as the party candidate from the Asansol constituency in West Burdwan district of West Bengal for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

In 2019, Ahluwalia was elected from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency, though with a thin margin. This time BJP has fielded the party’s former national vice-president and former state president in West Bengal Dilip Ghosh from Bardhaman-Durgapur.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Ahluwalia was elected from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency.

With the announcement of Ahluwalia’s name on Wednesday, BJP has so far announced candidates for 41 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The party is yet to announce the candidate for the high-profile Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency in South 24 Parganas district, from where party general secretary and sitting MP Abhishek Banerjee is Trinamool Congress candidate.

Initially, BJP had fielded popular Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh from Asansol. However, a day later, Singh announced he would not contest from the constituency.