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Yusuf Pathan
Amid criticism by the opposition over the absence of Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan from violence-hit Murshidabad in West Bengal, the TMC local leaders on Friday said they are in touch with him over the phone and have urged him to visit the district soon. The district Trinamool Congress leadership is "unhappy" with the Baharampur MP for not visiting Murshidabad during last week's communal clashes, with a section of the unit expressing displeasure over the party's decision to field a celebrity candidate who was absent during the crisis and has perceived disconnect from grassroots workers, TMC sources said. "He is a cricketer and a celebrity. Why would he come here? We are the ones trying to manage the situation on the ground. This is the issue with nominating celebrities. He is in touch with us over the phone, and we have asked him to come to the district. But right now, he is busy with the IPL," Murshidabad MP and senior TMC leader Abu Taher Khan told PTI. Pathan, a former Indian ...
At least 15 Muslim candidates have won Lok Sabha seats across the country, including the TMC nominee and former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan who secured a comfortable victory over Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Congress veteran's Baharampur bastion. A total of 78 Muslims were in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a significant drop from the last polls when 115 Muslim candidates were fielded by various parties. Congress candidate Imran Masood from Saharanpur won by a margin of 64,542 votes while Iqra Choudhary, a 29-year-old Samajwadi Party candidate from Kairana, secured victory over BJP Pradeep Kumar by 69,116 votes. Afzal Ansari, the incumbent MP from Ghazipur, won the seat by bagging 5.3 lakh votes while AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi retained his Hyderabad seat by a margin of 3,38,087 votes over his nearest rival BJP's Madhavi Latha Kompella. In Ladakh, Independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa secured a victory by a margin of 27,862 votes while another Independent candid
The TMC on Sunday announced the candidate list for all 42 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal, dropping at least eight sitting MPs and bringing in several new faces such as former cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Kriti Azad. The party renominated 16 sitting MPs and fielded 12 women. Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency. From the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, where Sandeshkhali is situated, TMC pitted its former MP Haji Nurul Islam by dropping sitting MP Nusrat Jahan. The TMC also renominated expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar seat for the second consecutive term. The list was announced from TMC's mega rally held at Brigade Parada Grounds in Kolkata, where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the party will contest Lok Sabha elections alone in all 42 seats in the state.