Murshidabad: In West Bengal's Musrhsidabad, eleven women decided to support the Congress candidate in Behrampore Lok Sabha constituency, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and contributed Rs 11,000 to the leader. On Sunday, these women from Rana Gram village handed over the amount, gathered through pooling sources, to Chowdhury's campaign, reports Asian News International.
The funds the women contributed to support Chowdhury for the Lok Sabha polls 2024 were collected from household budgets, earnings from agriculture activities, goat rearing and a day's wage earned by their husbands.
Chowdhury's candidature to the seat of West Bengal's Berhampore was announced in the third list of 56 candidates released by Congress on March 21 for the Lok Sabha elections. He has been representing the seat since 1999.
The elections for 42 Parliamentary Constituencies of West Bengal are scheduled in seven phases, starting from April 19 to June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4.
The ruling party of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC), gathered 22 seats in the 2019 general elections, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 18. However, the Indian National Congress could win only two seats.
At the end of March, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that her party, TMC, would not ally with the INDIA bloc in the state. She accused the bloc's partners CPI (M) and Congress of "joining hands with BJP" there. She urged the people of Bengal not to cast votes in favour of the Left-Congress-ISF alliance, claiming that "voting for them would mean voting for the BJP".
"There is no INDIA alliance in West Bengal. I had played a key role in the formation of the opposition bloc. Even its name was given by me. But, the CPI (M) and Congress are working for the BJP in the state," she said.