Kolkata, Aug 25 (IANS): The BJP Monday announced it would field party leaders Samik Bhattacharya and Ritesh Tiwari from Basirhat South and Chowringhee assembly seats here for the Sep 13 by-elections.

Bhattacharya, who is a general secretary in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) state unit, and Tiwari, a secretary, will be filing their nominations Tuesday.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has fielded former Indian soccer captain Dipendu Biswas from Basirhat South and actress Nayana Bandopadhyay from Chowringhee, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist has Mrinal Chakraborty and Faiz Ahmed Khan in the fray from the respective seats.

The Basirhat seat fell vacant after the death of CPI-M legislator Narayan Mukhopadhyay. The resignation of Trinamool legislator Sikha Mitra rendered the Chowringhee seat unoccupied. Sikha, wife of Congress leader Somen Mitra, left the Trinamool this year after being a party dissident for long.

The votes will be counted Sep 16.