West Bengal Elections: Humayun Kabir's Am Janata Unnayan Party Announces Candidate List

KOLKATA: Expelled Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir on Wednesday announced the first list of 15 candidates from his newly floated Am Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP). He declared that the AJUP would contest 182 of the 294 assembly constituencies in the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal. Kabir, who was expelled by the Trinamool Congress for 'anti-party activities', will contest from two constituencies -- Rejinagar and Nawda in Murshidabad -- though he was a sitting MLA from Bharatpur in the same district. Addressing a press conference, Kabir said, "We will nominate candidates in 182 seats. Today, we are announcing nominees for constituencies in Malda and Murshidabad districts. The final list of candidates will be announced on Sunday afternoon." He also claimed that the AIMIM led by Asaduddin Owaisi, in coordination with his party, is likely to contest a few seats in Bengal. After being expelled by the ruling party in the state, Kabir recently started construction of a mosque modelled on the Babri Masjid in the Beldanga area of Murshidabad district triggering sharp political reactions across the state. He also said his party would also field a non-Bengali Muslim candidate Poonam Begam from south Kolkata’s Bhabanipur, the most high profile constituency in the state where the Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari are taking on each other. Political observers felt that Kabir’s decision to field a non-Bengali Muslim candidate might have an impact on the Trinamool's Muslim vote bank in the constituency.