The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) announced former minister Zenith Sangma as its candidate from Meghalaya’s Tura constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

 “AITC under the guidance and inspiration of Chairperson Mamata Banerjee, we are pleased to announce the Meghalaya candidate from the Parliamentary Constituency of Tura (ST) seat,” the party said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Zenith Sangma, brother to former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, is the party’s first candidate outside of West Bengal, to be named for the general elections.

 On March 10, TMC announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, abandoning the opposition coalition, INDIA bloc.

The list of candidates was released by TMC general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee.

 Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will contest from Diamond Harbour.

Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from Lok Sabha in the winter session last year, has been given a ticket from the Krishnanagar constituency. Mukut Mani Adhikari, who recently quit the BJP, has also been given a ticket from the Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat.

 Shatrughan Sinha is set to again contest from Asansol, a seat he had won earlier in the 2022 bypoll. TMC has fielded Jagadish C Basuniya from Cooch Behar, Prakash Chik Baraik from Alipurduar, Nirmal Ch Roy from Jalpaiguri, and Gopal Lama from Darjeeling.

 The Trinamool Congress has already kicked off the campaign for the upcoming general elections.

 In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats while the BJP sprung a major surprise, winning 18 seats. The Congress won the remaining two seats.In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats. The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May this year.