Trinamul on Monday announced its candidates for Bengal’s Rajya Sabha vacancies that will go to polls on July 24, reposing its faith in three current MPs and fielding three new faces.

While the party decided to give one more term each to Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Dola Sen, its three new faces are RTI activist and Trinamul spokesperson Saket Gokhale, Bangla Sanskriti Mancha chief Samirul Islam and Trinamul’s Alipurduar district chief Prakash Chik Baraik.

However, Trinamul dropped Shanta Chhetri and Sushmita Dev.

O’Brien has been in the Upper House since 2011, Ray has been there since 2012, and Sen, since 2017.

All five — O’Brien, Ray, Sen, Chhetri and Dev — are outgoing Rajya Sabha members of Trinamul from Bengal. A sixth vacancy is that of the Congress’s outgoing Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya. The term of these six seats ends on August 18.

There is also the mid-term vacancy of a Bengal Rajya Sabha seat created by the resignation of erstwhile Trinamul member Luizinho Faleiro, with the term ending in April 2026.

For the seven vacancies — given the BJP’s likelihood of winning one, on the basis of its numbers in the Assembly — Trinamul fielded six.

Trinamul has an effective strength of 222 in the 294-seat Assembly, with the BJP at 70 — at least on paper — and the ISF at one, with one vacancy yet to be filled by a bypoll.

Once these seven vacancies are filled, Trinamul will have 13 of the 16 Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal, while the BJP, the CPM and the Congress will have one each.

Gokhale has been playing a significant role for Trinamul for a national audience on social and mainstream media for some time. Sources in Trinamul said his perseverance, despite recent stints in prison — he was allegedly victimised by Gujarat police and central agencies following some of his tweets critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — won him chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s admiration.

“He could add value to our national activities, especially inside Parliament, given his trajectory,” said a Trinamul MP.

Islam is an academic-turned-activist working not only for communal harmony but also with migrant workers since the pandemic struck. In the run-up to the 2021 Assembly elections, his organisation was one of several instrumental in building the ‘No Vote to BJP’ campaign.

“Islam was picked not only as an erudite, Bengali bhodrolok face that commands respect but also as a representative of the minorities,” said the MP, adding that Trinamul needs to find counter-ammunition for the rise of someone like the ISF’s Nawsad Siddique.

“Islam could wield considerable clout among lakhs of migrant workers and tens of lakhs in their families, especially in Birbhum, Murshidabad, and Malda,” he added.

Sources said Baraik was given a chance as a tribal face to try something different in north Bengal, where Trinamul is far from strong.