GTA polls: GJM announces candidates for 32 more seats

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today announced the names of candidates for 32 seats for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration election scheduled on July 29.

GJM president Bimal Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri are yet to get tickets. However, Asha Gurung, Bimal Gurung's wife and Nari Morcha president, has been fielded as the candidate for Darjeeling I seat.

With the four candidates announced earlier, the GJM has so far fielded 36 candidates for the 45-seat Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Announcing the candidates, GJM assistant general secretary Binay Tamang said that the names for the remaining seats would be revealed in the next two-three days.

According to GJM sources, the remaining names are significant as they might include Gurung and Giri. However, the party central committee is yet to take the final decision.

The central committee leaders reportedly requested Gurung to contest the GTA election, but he is yet to take a call on the issue.

Apart from Asha Gurung, the other prominent faces in the list are GJM assistant general secretary Binay Tamang (Bloomfield-Rishihat constituency), GJM vice-president Kalyan Dewan (Kalimpong), party leader Samuel Gurung (Kalimpong) and leader of GJM legal cell Taranga Pandit (Darjeeling IV).

Meanwhile, CPM's Darjeeling general secretary Jibesh Sarker said letters had been sent to all anti-GJM/Trinamool factions in the region, seeking their views on forming an alliance. ABGL leader Lakshman Pradhan said a meeting would be held in Darjeeling tomorrow to discuss issues regarding the GTA election.

Trinamool, which had announced that it would contest all 45 seat, has not come out with a single name yet. According to sources, Trinamool might field candidates in 25 seats while in other seats the party will back independent candidates.

North Bengal development minister and Trinamool leader in-charge of North Bengal Gautam Deb said, "We have decided to contest the election. But we are yet to decide in how many seats we will field our candidates. We have organisation in the area but it needs to be strengthened. We will fight the election and field candidates in some of the seats, if not all 45 seats. It has been decided that we will not go into an alliance with GJM."

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