Who is the likely mayoral face of BJP for Kolkata municipal elections? Here’s why the party has no answer 16 days before the election

Wednesday was the last day for submission of nomination papers for the Kolkata bypolls. The BJP announced the list of candidates 48 hours ago on Monday. From that day till Thursday, the party’s state spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya was repeatedly asked whether he would contest the by-elections for the post of mayor. Asked why, he explained, “This is our strategy. Even in the assembly elections, we did not contest elections by electing anyone as the chief ministerial candidate!

However, Arjun Singh, one of the leaders in charge of Kolkata civic polls, said in response to the same question on the same day, “The party manifesto for Kolkata civic polls will be launched on December 8. any or not. Who will be nominated as a potential mayor will be known that day. No decision has been taken yet.”

A section of the state BJP pointed out that the party’s interest in being candidates for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections was low since 2015, after the party lost some seats in the assembly elections and by-elections. In this situation, it may not be realistic for a potential mayor to go public with his face down. However, according to other sections of the party, the result would have been better had the potential chief minister contested the assembly elections face to face. From there someone should be put forward as a potential mayor in the municipal elections. By the way, this time there are many such candidates in the list of BJP candidates whose mother tongue is not Bengali.