BJP dissidents on Tuesday filed nominations to contest as Independents in at least seven Assembly constituencies which would go to the polls in the first phase on March 27.

Elections will be held to 30 Assembly seats in the first phase and Tuesday was the last date of nomination filing.

The BJP old timers filed the nominations as Independents in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia as they were “unhappy” with “unpopular” candidates declared by the BJP and allocation of a seat for the partner, All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU).

Dhiman Koley and Pradip Lodha filed the papers in West Midnapore’s Salboni and Garbeta, respectively. In Purulia, Gopinath Goswami filed nomination in Balarampur, Nepal Chandra Mahato in Joypur and Swapan Bauri in Para.

Defying the party’s decision to leave the Baghmundi seat in Purulia to the AJSU, BJP old timer Shankar Kumar has filed nomination as an Independent.

Similarly, two local BJP leaders — Dinanath Chatterjee and Tapan Mahanto — have filed papers to contest from the Chhatna constituency of Bankura against the party’s nominee Satyanarayan Mukherjee. The rebel leaders said Mukherjee, who is a native of Bankura’s Gangajalghati, was “an outsider and hence, did not represent the constituency”.

Among the rebels, Koley was former president of the West Midnapore district committee, while Lodha was the vice-president. The Independent in Balarampur, Gopinath Goswami, is a sitting zilla parishad member, while Mahato is the BJP’s mandal committee president.

BJP Bankura district president Vivekananda Patra said: “BJP workers who have filed nomination papers against the party’s official nominee will have no truck with the party.”

The rebels, however, suffered a setback in West Midnapore when two old timers, who had agreed to contest as Independents from Midnapore and Kharagpur, respectively, did not turn up.

Asked about the dilemma among the rebels, Lodha said: “The district leadership had managed to convince them to join the campaign for the official candidates. But Dhiman Koley and I remain firm to fight the polls as Independents in protest against the party’s decision.”

The rebellion in Purulia’s Balarampur and Joypur is worrying the BJP leadership as the two places had played a significant role in the growth of the saffron party in the district after three party workers had allegedly been killed by Trinamul supporters.

“Our three martyrs — Trilochan Mahato, Dulal Kumar and Jagannath Tudu — had to sacrifice their lives in 2018 to establish the BJP in Purulia. A large number of BJP workers and leaders started protesting against the party’s decision to field Baneshwar Mahato from Balarampur. I filed nomination today (Tuesday) on the advice of a majority of district leaders to save the party,” said Goswami.

However, BJP’s Purulia district president Vidyasagar Chakraborty said: “We will not tolerate such anti-party activities and stern action will be taken against them.”

The show of rebellion has come as a headache for BJP leaders, who expect more such cases of factional feud once the names of all candidates are announced.

“This is just the beginning. The cracks within the party will widen once the total list of candidates is out. However, we will try to manage dissent,” said a senior state BJP leader and added that many of those who had filed papers would withdraw from the race by March 12, which is the last date for withdrawal of nomination for the first phase.

Apart from the ire over choice of candidates, BJP’s attempt at inorganic growth through inductions has angered party workers at the grassroots level.

The induction of Basirhat’s Trinamul MLA Dipendu Biswas was met with protests at several places in the North 24-Parganas district.

BJP supporters held protest rallies in the town and set fire to the cut-outs and banners of the former India footballer who switched sides after he was denied a ticket by Trinamul.

BJP leader in Basirhat, Kaushik Dutta, said: “Dipendu is an opportunist who exploited many youths only to win their support by making false promises for jobs. It is unfortunate that the party did not bother to understand the anger of the people against Dipendu before inducting him into the party. It would be unfair if he is given a ticket to fight the polls. Party workers will oppose his candidature.”

If the BJP is not a happy house over distribution of tickets, Trinamul is also facing a similar trouble in Murshidabad.

A bunch of disgruntled Trinamul leaders left the party on Tuesday and said they would join the Congress soon. Led by senior Trinamul leader and Murshidabad zilla parishad member Maidul Islam, around 1,000 people quit the ruling party to protest against the nomination of Imami Biswas from Suti constituency. Former Suti block president Obaidur Rahaman and former panchayat samity chief Anikul Islam also left Trinamul, along with Maidul.