- Monday, February 24, 2025
Yusuf Pathan hails from Gujarat, the home state of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
By: Shubham Ghosh
TRINAMOOL CONGRESS, one of India’s major opposition parties and the governing party of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, on Sunday (10) announced names of 42 candidates for the upcoming general elections expected to take place in April and May and among them was Yusuf Pathan, a former India cricketer.
He will contest from the high-profile constituency of Baharampur in the district of Murshidabad, which is dominated by the minority Muslim community, and represented in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the Indian parliament by Indian National Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been winning from the same seat since 1999.
The Congress was yet to announce its candidate from Baharampur and Chowdhury may re-contest from the constituency.
Pathan, 41, played for India between 2007 and 2012 and was also a member of the Indian squad that won the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 and the 50-over World Cup at home in 2011. The batter-allrounder scored a little over 1,000 runs and took 46 wickets in 57 one-day internationals and 22 T20s. Pathan, whose brother Irfan Pathan has also represented India in international cricket, has also been a regular member of Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise of the Indian Premier League named after the capital city of Bengal.
Pathan, who has never contested an election earlier, hails from Gujarat, the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi.
Expressing his gratitude to the Trinamool leadership for nominating him, he said, “As representatives of the people, it is our duty to uplift the poor and deprived, and that is what I hope to achieve.”
I'm eternally grateful to Smt. @MamataOfficial for welcoming me into the TMC family and trusting me with the responsibility to become people's voice in the Parliament.
As representatives of the people, it is our duty to uplift the poor and deprived, and that is what I hope to… pic.twitter.com/rFM5aYyrDg
— Yusuf Pathan (@iamyusufpathan) March 10, 2024
The Trinamool Congress also picked another former cricketer who has been part of India’s World Cup-winning squad of 1983 — Kirti Azad, who is an experienced politician. The 65-year-old, who was a member of the BJP and Congress before joining the Bengal-based party, will contest from Burdwan-Durgapur constituency. He has been an MP twice before but was from his home state of Bihar on both occasions. He is the Trinamool’s official in-charge for the western state of Goa.
He also thanked the Trinamool leadership for choosing him and believing in him.
#WATCH | West Bengal: On his candidature from Durgapur, TMC leader Kirti Azad says, "I am grateful to Mamata Banerjee for choosing me and believing in me. Whatever responsibility has been given, we have to fulfil that. BJP is not at all strong here (Durgapur)…" pic.twitter.com/lFkFIEwVBe
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2024
The Trinamool leadership, spearheaded by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, on Sunday revealed names of its candidates for the upcoming national elections at a mega rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. In a unique event, all the 42 candidates were seen walking behind Banerjee on a ramp specially built for the rally as millions witnessed and greeted them.
Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, considered the No.2 in the party, is also a sitting MP from Diamond Harbour constituency in southern Bengal.
The candidates featured a number of film personalities — new and veteran. Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from Lok Sabha in December in a cash-for-query controversy, was fielded from her Krishnagar constituency.
As many as seven sitting MPs were not given the ticket for the elections and they included two actor-politicians — Mimi Chankraborty and Nusrat Jahan.
Eighteen women candidates feature in the list.
