Tamluk, from where Gangopadhyay will be contesting, is considered a pocket borough of BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, who was once a TMC leader and close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Besides Gangopadhyay, the BJP named 18 more candidates from West Bengal in its fifth list, including former TMC leaders Arjun Singh from Barrackpore, Tapas Roy from Kolkata Uttar, and Shilbhadra Dutta from Dum Dum.

Arjun Singh joined the BJP last week after the TMC did not field him. Seen as a ‘strongman’, Singh has a string of criminal cases against him, including charges of corruption, attempt to murder, fraud, and rioting. He had won on a BJP ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but returned to TMC following the party’s win in 2021 Assembly polls.

Former TMC MLA Tapas Roy, who also joined the BJP earlier this month, will contest against TMC heavyweight and MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in Kolkata Uttar. Roy had left the TMC due to his reported differences with Bandyopadhyay.

“I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior party leaders for giving me the opportunity to contest the election against the Trinamool Congress. I know the Kolkata Uttar constituency on the back of my hand. I am very confident that I will be able to defeat Sudip Bandyopadhyay,” said Roy on Sunday.

The BJP, on the other hand, has shifted the constituency of senior party and former state unit president Dilip Ghosh. He will now contest from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency instead of Medinipur from where he had won five years ago. The BJP has instead fielded MLA and fashion designer Agnimitra Paul from Medinipur where she will be battling against TMC MLA June Maliah.

“In our party, there is no permanent place for any leader. When the time comes, one has to take new challenges and fight the election from unknown territories. I am very confident that I will be able to retain Dilip da’s seat who is my mentor. He had made me the state Mahila Morcha president when he was the state party president. I have taken his blessings and will need his guidance in this election. He has done remarkable work to strengthen the organisation,” Paul said soon after the BJP released its candidates’ list.

Similarly, BJP MP and former Union Minister Debasree Chaudhuri has been shifted from Raiganj in north Bengal to Kolkata Dakshin. She has been pitted against veteran TMC leader and MP Mala Roy.

Meanwhile, taking everyone by surprise, the BJP fielded sitting MP Raju Bista from Darjeeling constituency. By renominating Bista, the BJP broke its trend of changing the candidate in Darjeeling every five years since 2009.

In Krishnanagar, the party has fielded Raj Mata Amrita Roy against TMC’s Mahua Moitra. Roy belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Krishnanagar. Known as ‘Rani Ma’, Roy is a former fashion designer who was married into the royal family in 1981. She was inducted into the BJP last week.

Rekha Patra, who was one of the women who had raised complaints of sexual harassment against TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides in Sandeshkhali, has been named the BJP candidate from Basirhat seat.

“Rekha Patra has become synonymous with the Sandeshkhali protest. She comes from a humble background and has shown guts to fight against the TMC government. Therefore, she has all the credibility to contest the election from Basirhat under which Sandeshkhali falls,” said Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari.

With Sunday’s list of 19, the BJP has so far announced candidates for 38 out of the total 42 Lok Sabha in West Bengal.

The BJP is yet to announce its candidates for Diamond Harbour, Asansol, Jhargram and Birbhum constituencies. In Asansol, the BJP had announced the candidature of Bhojpuri singer-turned-actor Pawan Singh. But following controversies over the contents of his songs, Singh withdrew from the polls.