BJP fields 58 women for Kolkata civic polls

Kolkata, March 17 (IANS) The BJP on Tuesday announced its list of 142 candidates - including 58 women and 18 from religious minorities - for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls.

"The candidate list includes 58 women along with 17 Muslim and one Christian candidate," Bharatiya Janata Party state president Rahul Sinha said while announcing the names of the 142 candidates for the 144-seat corporation.

The list has some former leaders from West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

While the Trinamool and the Congress have already announced their candidate lists for the April 18 polls, the CPI-M led Left Front, which on Sunday had published its first set of names for 125 wards, announced the remaining names on Tuesday.

While the Left has fielded 71 female candidates, the Trinamool's tally stands at 65.

The State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday issued notification that the KMC polls will be held on April 18.

As per the notification, the last date of filing nominations is March 23, while scrutiny will be held on March 24 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 26. More than 37,42,000 electors are eligible to exercise their franchise at 4,704 polling stations. Counting will be held on April 28.