Ahead of the eight-phased West Bengal Assembly Elections, Bengali actor Srabanti Chatterjee joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kolkata on Monday, reported news agency ANI. The 33-year old actor joined the saffron camp in the presence of West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, senior party leader Kailash Vijaywargiya and Amit Malviya.

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Chatterjee started her acting career in 1997 with ‘Mayar Badhon’ alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta. She later went on to act in several other films like ‘Champion’, ‘Amanush’, ‘Kanamachi’, ‘Jio Pagla’, and ‘Chobiyal’.

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The Election Commision of India on Friday has announced the polling dates for the state assembly elections. The elections in the third largest state in terms of Lok Sabha seats (42),will vote in eight rounds from March 27 to April 29.  The results will be announced on May 2.

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For this term, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress are engaged in a fierce battle for the 294-member Assembly. The 66-year-old Chief Minister is seeking a third consecutive term amid a mass exodus of prominent leaders like Adhikari and Dinesh Trivedi from the party to the saffron camp.

However, the BJP has not yet announced a West Bengal CM candidate for this term and the general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has confirmed that the party’s CM candidate will be decided only once they secure majority in the state.