Star footballer Baichung Bhutia and senior BJP leader S S Ahluwalia, contesting from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency as Trinamool Congress and GJM-backed BJP candidates respectively, were among prominent candidates who filed nominations in West Bengal today.
The Election Commission office in West Bengal said a total 18 candidates filed their nominations in four parliamentary constituencies for the first phase poll on April 17.
Apart from Bhutia and Ahluwalia, there were three TMC nominees, four Congress, three BJP and the rest from some other registered parties and independents.
With this, the total number of nominations filed for the four Lok Sabha seats - Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling - rose to 29.
The last day of filing of nominations for the first phase is March 26.
Congress nominee Sujoy Ghatak also filed nomination for the Darjeeling seat. BJP's Jaswant Singh had won the seat in 2009 with the support of the GJM.
