Former Indian cricketer and BJP MLA Ashok Dinda has been granted a ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest once more from the Moyna constituency in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal.
Ahead of the state assembly elections scheduled in two phases on April 23 and April 29, Dinda expressed his gratitude to the party and pledged to continue development efforts in his constituency.
Addressing the media on March 18, Dinda said, “I don’t care what TMC says, what people say is. I am grateful to the BJP for trusting me and giving me another opportunity in this election. I believe in my hard work. I thank the BJP leadership for bringing the rail line to Moyna, proposing a fire brigade.”
The state will hold elections for all 294 assembly seats, with the BJP releasing its first list of 144 candidates. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is set to contest from Nandigram, where he defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2021, and from Bhabanipur, her current constituency. Other BJP candidates include MLA Agnimitra Paul from Asansol Dakshin, actor-turned-politician Rudranil Ghosh from Shibpur, and MLA Bankim Chandra Ghosh from Chakdaha.
The Election Commission of India announced that the first phase will cover 152 constituencies, with the gazette notification issued on March 30. The last date for filing nominations is April 6, scrutiny on April 7, and withdrawal of nominations by April 9, with polling on April 23. The second phase covers 142 constituencies, with a gazette notification on April 2, nominations due by April 9, scrutiny on April 10, withdrawal until April 13, and polling on April 29. Counting for both phases will take place on May 4.
According to the Election Commission, West Bengal has 64,561,152 electors, including 64,452,609 general electors and 108,543 service voters. The rolls include 523,229 young electors aged 18 to 19, 416,089 electors marked as Persons with Disabilities, 1,152 electors identified as third gender, and 378,979 senior citizens aged 85 and above.

