TMC's Mahua Moitra faces BJP's 'royal candidate' from Krishnanagar seat

Trinamool Congress has once again nominated Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat of West Bengal, who was expelled from the post of MP after the controversy last year. This time Mahua Moitra is facing a direct challenge from BJP candidate Amrita Roy from the local royal family.

Rajmata Amrita Roy's name appeared in the fifth list of BJP on Sunday. Apart from Amrita Roy, many big names were included in it. Actress Kangana Ranaut will contest from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and actor Arun Govil from Meerut Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. Varun Gandhi's ticket has been canceled from Pilibhit seat of UP.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had raided Mahua Moitra's house in Kolkata after registering a complaint in the cash-for-query case. While giving this information, Moitra had taken a dig at the non-announcement of BJP's candidate from Krishnanagar seat.

Mahua Moitra, 49, had easily won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Krishnanagar by securing 45 percent of the votes, defeating BJP's Kalyan Choubey by 60,000 votes.

Former investment banker Mahua Moitra is one of the biggest critics of BJP. He made passionate speeches in the Parliament, made sharp attacks on social media and also had many face-to-face encounters with Union ministers and saffron party leaders.

Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat has been held by Trinamool since 2009, when Tapas Paul wrested it from CPI-M. CPI-M had dominated here without any challenge from 1971 to 1999. There is no possibility of a Left party candidate in a direct fight in this election. There is a direct contest between TMC's Mahua Moitra and BJP's Rajmata Amrita Roy.

The re-nomination of Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar has been seen as a direct challenge to the BJP by the Trinamool Congress. This is also a challenge after her controversial removal on corruption charges.

It took some time for TMC to stand in favor of Mahua Moitra, but now it has stood firmly in her favor. Mamata Banerjee has described her dismissal as 'murder of democracy'.

Mahua Moitra has emerged as one of the central figures for Trinamool Congress in this fight against BJP.

West Bengal has the highest number of 42 Lok Sabha seats after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, and hence is an important state for the BJP, which wants to win 370+ seats on its own. Last time BJP had won 18 seats in Bengal.

Mahua is alleged to have taken ₹2 crore in cash and "luxury gift items" from a businessman - Darshan Hiranandani - for asking questions critical of the government in Parliament. She was also accused of sharing log-in details to her confidential account on the Parliament website.