Trinamul Congress on Sunday announced the list of its 42 Lok Sabha nominees for Bengal, with a mix of the old and the new, including cricketers, academics and Tollywood celebrities.

However, much interest lay in 14 names picked by Trinamul to contest in two BJP strongholds, north Bengal and Jungle Mahal.

Trinamul candidates for eight seats in north Bengal — where it has no sitting MP — include two BJP turncoats, two MLAs, a Rajya Sabha member who simultaneously holds the post of district organisational head of the party, a retired bureaucrat, a voluntarily retired IPS officer and an Oxford research scholar.

However, many questioned how comparative novices had been favoured over more seasoned politicians. Jagadish Chandra Basunia, two-time Sitai MLA, will be pitted against the BJP's Nisith Pramanik in Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat. However, many are wondering why heavyweights like Rabindranath Ghosh, Udayan Guha and Partha Pratim Roy did not make the cut.

Prakash Chik Baraik, the Trinamul's pick candidate from Alipurduar, has been earlier sent to the Rajya Sabha and is the district party chief too. Although Baraik's leadership helped the party in local polls, many again believe that the Lok Sabha "is a different ball game".

Dhupguri MLA Nirmal Chandra Roy, who won the Dhupguri bypoll months ago, is the nominee from the prestigious Jalpaiguri seat, which again raised eyebrows. However, the Trinamul leadership believes that Roy's recent electoral success and stainless character would help wrest the seat from the BJP.

Gopal Lama, a former bureaucrat, is the Darjeeling nominee. While he is a son of the soil, several party insiders said his lack of political experience might be a poser in a Lok Sabha seat where Trinamul has never won.

Biplab Mitra, a state cabinet member, will contest Trinamul from Balurghat in South Dinajpur, held by Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar.

"There is no doubt of his political acumen. But what troubles us is that he defected to the BJP before the last Assembly elections and then came back after the BJP's debacle," an insider said.

Krishna Kalyani, a businessman and still a BJP MLA officially, would contest for Trinamul from Raiganj. Kalyani, who chairs the public accounts committee of the Assembly, comes with the turncoat tag.

In Malda North, Prasun Banerjee, who was the IG of Raiganj even a couple of days ago, is Trinamul's pick. Shahnawaz Ali Raihan, a research scholar of Oxford and a former journalist, will contest from Malda South. Malda North was won by the BJP in 2019 while Malda South was bagged by the Congress.

"Trinamul is the only platform to beat communal forces. The Congress has lost its strength and credibility.... I am confident of victory," Raihan said.

Trinamul has given special focus on selecting candidates in Jungle Mahal — Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and West Midnapore districts — where the BJP has five out of six Lok Sabha seats.

A source in Trinamul said research by senior party leaders led to the nominees.

Trinamul insiders said Jhargram nominee and Padma Shri winner Kalipada Soren was the best choice among other candidates in Jungle Mahal. The Santhali scholar who studied at Rabindra Bharati University in Calcutta earlier won the Sahitya Akademi Award. In 2019, BJP candidate and IITian Kunar Hembram won from Jhargram. Hembram however announced his disassociation from the BJP recently.

Trinamul fielded the party MLA June Malia to contest against former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh in Midnapore. A source in Trinamul claimed June, an actor-turned-politician, reorganise the party by stitching several factions together.

Like Midnapore, Trinamul insiders claimed the decision to field Arup Chakraborty and Sujata Mondal were good choices.

"(Taldangra MLA) Arup Chakraborty is a popular leader in Bankura and was fielded against BJP MP Subhas Sarkar. Bishnupur is supposedly a weak pocket for Trinamul, but pitching Sujata Mondal, former wife of the BJP MP and candidate Soumitra Khan, was a good choice," said a Trinamul leader.

Santiram Mahato was picked for Purulia, from where BJP MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato won decisively in the 2019 elections.