Poll fever goes high with wall paintings in Kolkata streets

Soon after the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, the wall paintings and flexes are all set to intensify the poll fever in the city.

By Syeda Shabana Parveen Soon after the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, the wall paintings and flexes are all set to intensify the poll fever in the city.

Be it TMC candidate Aroop Biswas from Tollygunj or Jawed Khan from Kasba, the walls in south Kolkata have been adorned with party's 'joda phool' (double flower) symbol and candidate names. The flexes across the city are dominated by TMC slogan "Bangla nijer meyekei chaye" (Bengal wants its own daughter) featuring Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Some of the graffiti also has catchy lines, like "Jokhon daki tokhon payi, Arup da ke abar chai" (Whenever we call Arup Biswas is accessible). Arup Biswas is TMC's candidate from Tollygunj. Elections also bring employment opportunities for painters and flex makers who give expression to all political parties' messages, be it Bharatiya Janata Party's 'Sonar Bangla' or TMC's 'Khela hobe'.

"In Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is going to make a come back again. We were benefitted from her schemes like Swasthya Sathi, Kanyashree and others. Most importantly, she has been with us whenever we need her," said Subrata Mukherjee, a local resident from South Kolkata. Another local resident Ranjit Ghatak said, "Bengal believes in development which we have seen in the past 10 years."

On Friday, Mamata Banerjee released the list of 291 TMC candidates for the elections and said she will contest from Nandigram instead of Bhawanipore, her current constituency, where she has been the sitting MLA since 2011. "We are the first political party to announce the candidate list. Today, we are releasing a list of 291 candidates, which includes 50 women, 79 SCs, 17 STs and 42 Muslim candidates. On three seats of north Bengal, we are not putting up our candidates. In three seats -- Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong -- Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will contest the elections and whoever wins will support us," she said.

The TMC chief said the party was not able to provide seats to many because they have to bring new candidates forward. West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting on April 29. The counting of votes in the state will take place on May 2. (ANI)

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