BJP 5th candidate list 2024: Ex-Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay gets Lok Sabha poll ticket from Bengal’s Tamluk

BJP 5th candidate list 2024: Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay gets Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha ticket days. Justice Gangopadhyay featured in the list released by the JP Nadda-led party on Sunday. Justice Gangopadhyay is set to contest General Assembly polls from Tamluk Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal.

Abhijit Gangopadhyay stepped down as the Calcutta High Court judge earlier in March, and joined the Saffron party. Notably, the Tamluk seat has been a stronghold of the ruling Trinamool Congress, as the party has held it since the 2009 election.

When Abhijit Gangopadhyay had joined BJP on 7 March, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee had challenged the former saying, “Will defeat you in polls no matter from where you contest”. 

The BJP on Sunday named 111 more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, dropping Union ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey and V K Singh, besides MP Varun Gandhi, while fielding actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil.

BJP has named 19 more candidates from West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party has shifted Dilip Ghosh, the MP from Medinipur, to Bardhaman–Durgapur, dropping the incumbent S S Ahluwalia.

West Bengal will vote in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha Polls that begin on 19 April. The Lok Sabha election results will be declared on 4 June. 

Abhijit Gangopadhyay: 5 points on ex-Calcutta HC judge

- Born in Kolkata in 1962, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay attended Mitra Institution before pursuing his legal education at Hazra Law College in Kolkata.

-Initially serving as a West Bengal Civil Service Grade A officer in Uttar Dinajpur district, he transitioned to private practice as a state lawyer in the Calcutta High Court after completing his graduation.

-Justice Gangopadhyay's judicial career saw him ascend to the rank of additional judge in 2018, later becoming a permanent judge two years later.

-In April last year, Justice Gangopadhyay stirred controversy by discussing a case involving the 'school jobs for cash scam' in an interview with a TV channel. 

-Abhijit Gangopadhyay's remarks, particularly on TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's alleged involvement, drew criticism from the Supreme Court, which emphasised that sitting judges should refrain from giving media interviews.