GUWAHATI: Former Congress Lok Sabha MP from Silchar and former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, July 9, and was, within hours, named as the party's candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypoll in West Bengal.
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Dev was formally inducted into the BJP at the party's West Bengal headquarters in Salt Lake along with former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik by state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya.
Shortly after their induction, the BJP announced the three leaders as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha bypolls scheduled to be held on July 24.
The trio had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and quit the Trinamool Congress last month following the party's defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections. Ray and Baraik were serving terms until September 2029, while Dev's tenure was due to continue until April 2030.
Sushmita Dev previously represented the Silchar Lok Sabha constituency as a Congress MP before joining the Trinamool Congress in 2021. She later entered the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal as a TMC nominee.
The BJP is expected to secure all three Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming bypolls.