Apart from Paul, the BJP also announced the names of three candidates for the assembly bypolls in West Bengal, Bihar and Maharashtra.
Keya Ghosh will be the BJP candidate for the assembly bypoll to West Bengal’s Ballygunge constituency where she will face former Union minister Supriyo.
In Bihar’s Bochahan assembly seat, the BJP will field Beby Kumari for the bypoll, while it has named Satyajit (Nana) Shivaji Rao Kadam for the Kolhapur North constituency in Maharashtra.
The by-elections will be held in one LS seat of West Bengal and four assembly constituencies of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra on April 12.
West Bengal’s Asansol seat fell vacant after Supriyo tendered his resignation as a Lok Sabha member last October. Supriyo, who had won the Asansol seat in 2014 and 2019 on BJP tickets, is this time in fray as a Trinamool candidate from the Ballygunge assembly segment.
The Bochaha assembly seat in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district fell vacant after the death of sitting MLA Musafir Paswan of the Vikassheel Insaan Party in November last year, while the bypoll to Kolhapur North constituency was necessitated due to the demise of Congress’s Chandrakant Jadhav in December.
The last date of filing nominations for the bypolls is March 24, while that for withdrawal of candidature is March 28. Counting of votes will take place on April 16.