The BJP’s plan to start an early campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Bengal has suffered a setback in 23 constituencies, especially in six seats where the party won in 2019, because of a delay in the announcement of the candidates.

Till now, the BJP has declared nominees in 19 of 42 seats in the state. The Trinamul Congress named all the 42 candidates.

A section of BJP leaders in both north and south Bengal, who are disgruntled with the delay, said the party had been trailing behind Trinamul in the campaigning in the 23 segments.

“Trinamul has already announced candidates in all 42 seats and started campaigning in full swing. While our colleagues in nearby districts like Bankura and Purulia have been busy campaigning with their candidates, we are just waiting to know the names of our nominee,” said a BJP leader in Jhargram, which is one of the 18 seats in Bengal where the BJP won in 2019.

On March 2, the BJP announced candidates in 20 Lok Sabha seats. However, the party withdrew its Asansol nominee Pawan Singh — a Bhojpuri singer and actor — within 24 hours of the announcement amid Trinamul’s charges against his misogynistic statements and uncharitable references to Bengali women in his songs.

According to a senior BJP leader, the party had planned to announce the nominees for all the 42 constituencies as part of its target to start an early campaign in the state. Union home minister Amit Shah had set a target of 35 seats in Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, asked the BJP leaders in Bengal to focus on all the 42 seats in the state.

A source said the most embarrassing thing for the BJP was the delay in announcing the names of the candidates in six seats — Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raiganj, Jhargram, Burdwan-Durgapur and Barrackpore — where the BJP had sitting MPs.

A section of BJP leaders and workers and its allies like the GNLF in the Darjeeling hills are disgruntled with the delay in the announcement of candidates in three Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal.

“The people of the Darjeeling hills and the Terai are angry as the BJP has not been able to declare the candidate for the Darjeeling Parliament seat. They are also in a state of confusion. We demand that the ticket be granted to sitting Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista as we are satisfied with his work for the region,” said Sandeep Limbu, a youth leader of the GNLF.

A BJP leader said the party had not announced the names of the nominees in the 20-odd seats as there were multiple options. He referred to the example of the party’s Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who had joined Trinamul in 2022 and again took the BJP’s flag on Friday in New Delhi. If anything does not change in the last hours, the BJP will field Singh again from Barrackpore.

Diyendu Adhikari, the current Tamluk MP and younger brother of the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, also joined the BJP, along with Singh.

“Singh agreed to contest on a BJP ticket only after he was denied nomination by Trinamul. Although we were in search of a new face, the fact is that Singh is the best choice. Now, the Barrackpore issue is resolved,” said the leader.

He has claimed that for the Darjeeling seat, two names — those of former foreign secretary H.V. Shringla and current MP Raju Bista — have popped up. “The party has set things right in most of the 23 seats. The candidates will be announced very shortly — by Saturday or Sunday,” he added.

“We have won Raiganj, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri seats with decent margins. Then, why is the party late in announcing the names? If we had lost those seats in 2019, there is still some justification for the delay. Interestingly, the candidate has been announced for Malda South, the only seat in north Bengal where we lost last time,” said a BJP functionary in Jalpaiguri.

A BJP leader in Hooghly said he was upset that the party hadn’t yet declared the nominee for Arambagh, which the saffron camps considered as a “sure seat”.

“The party will announce the nominees for all 23 seats very soon. The delay in announcing the candidates won’t have an impact as the people of Bengal are ready to votefor us,” said BJP’s RajyaSabha member and chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.