Dinesh Trivedi File picture

Mamata Banerjee has announced four former Lok Sabha members, Dinesh Trivedi, Subrata Bakshi, Arpita Ghosh and Mausam Noor, as the Trinamul Congress’s candidates for elections to the Rajya Sabha from Bengal on March 26.

The Trinamul Congress chief, who posted the announcement on Twitter on Sunday afternoon, underscored the fact that two of the four nominees are women.

“I am glad to announce that @AITCofficial will be nominating Arpita Ghosh, Mausam Noor, Dinesh Trivedi & Subrata Bakshi to the Rajya Sabha,” posted Mamata on the microblogging site.

“As a part of my constant endeavour towards woman empowerment, I am proud that half of our nominations are women #InternationalWomensDay,” she added.

Ghosh, Noor and Trivedi had been defeated in the last general election.

Each Rajya Sabha seat in Bengal is won on the basis of 49 first-preference votes in the 294-seat Assembly. With its 230-plus MLAs, Trinamul is sure to win four of the five seats.

The Bengal chief minister didn’t choose newbies or re-nominate any of the five Rajya Sabha members whose terms will end next month. But she struck a deft balance for two north Bengal districts of Malda and South Dinajpur.

The five outgoing members are Independent Ritabrata Banerjee and Trinamul’s Jogen Chowdhury, K.D. Singh, Manish Gupta and Ahmad Hassan Imran.

While Singh has been estranged from Trinamul for years, Banerjee has been working for the ruling party since his expulsion from the CPM. Trinamul has distanced itself from Imran over his association with organisations deemed radical.

“The chief minister wanted trusted and experienced hands on the Rajya Sabha deck. Besides, she wanted to ensure that those who are able — according to her — do not have to stay away from parliamentary politics because of the shock defeats last year,” said a senior Rajya Sabha member of the party.“Like on the past few occasions, she defied expectations this time as well,” he added.

When there were Rajya Sabha vacancies in Bengal in March 2018, Mamata had surprised everyone in her party with the announcement of newbies Subhashis Chakraborty, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Santanu Sen as the candidates and re-nomination of Nadimul Haque.

“While the list this time could be interpreted largely as rehabilitation of the vanquished, it is a well thought-out move. With Arpita and Mausam, she went with the party chiefs of the vital north Bengal districts of South Dinajpur and Malda,” said the MP.

Several senior Trinamul leaders pointed out that the “real games” would be played over the fifth vacancy, which the ruling party does not have the numbers for.

The Left and the Congress can win the fifth seat if they join forces. But the dillydallying, which resulted in a major loss of face for advocates of the alliance in both the camps during the two last Rajya Sabha elections in the state, continues to plague the CPM.

The Congress wants to back CPM general-secretary Sitaram Yechury to the Rajya Sabha or field a consensus — possibly apolitical — candidate. The CPM, according to sources, is unlikely to get the go-ahead for Yechury. While the lack of clarity has not allowed the Congress and the Left leadership to sit together and finalise a candidate, Mamata is looking to embarrass them a third consecutive time.