Mamata Banerjee announces candidates on all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday announced a list of TMC candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats of the state, dropping 10 sitting MPs. She also attacked the BJP and the Modi government, claiming she had information that "VVIPs" were using helicopters and chartered flights to transport money to bribe voters.

Releasing the list, the West Bengal leader assailed the Centre over a host of issues including the Rafale deal, farm distress and shrinking employment opportunities. Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said the outgoing TMC lawmakers whose names do not figure in the list will be drafted for party work.

She said 41 per cent of the nominees in the list are women. The TMC, she said, will also contest some seats in Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and the Andamans.

(With inputs from agencies.)