Kolkata, Mar 10 (IANS): Trinamool Congress supremo and the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be announcing the list of candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state for the forthcoming general election at a mega rally in the Brigade Parade Ground here on Sunday.

Party leaders said that this is a deviation from the traditional practice of announcing the names of the candidates at a press conference at the Chief Minister’s official residence at Kalighat in south Kolkata.

Party leaders also said that the announcement of the names of party candidates this time is different from the traditional practice. “Generally the practice is that the candidates are announced a day or two before the scheduled announcement of polling dates by the Election Commission of India. However, this time it is being done much before,” said a senior member of the West Bengal cabinet.

Many are of the opinion that Trinamool Congress has decided to make the early announcement of the names of the candidates amid the development of BJP having already started announcing the names of its candidates nationally. In the first phase, BJP has already announced the names of 20 out of 42 candidates in the state. However, the number currently stands at 19 now since BJP candidate from Asansol in West Burdwan district Pawan Singh opted out.

Trinamool sources said that the list is expected to have a mix of “old guards” and “new faces, with most of the sitting MPs to get re-nomination this time as well. The new faces, party insiders said, will have some popular faces from the Bengali cineworld as well .