West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress candidate from Bhawanipur constituency Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee will file her nomination papers for the Bhawanipur seat by-election today. Banerjee needs a win to continue in her post.
As per the schedule, polling will be held on 30 September while the results will be declared on 4 October.
The TMC on Sunday announced Mamata Banerjee as its candidate for the Bhawanipur bypoll. The TMC’s campaign in the South Kolkata seat is underway after the Election Commission announced the bypolls last week following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis.
Banerjee, who lost the election to her former colleague Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, has to win this bypoll to retain her chief minister’s post.
While BJP is yet to announce its candidate for the bypoll, Congress has announced that it will not field any candidate against Mamata. The Left Front has announced that CPI(M) leader Shreejib Biswas will be its candidate for the Bhawanipur bypoll.
Bypolls will be held on September 30 along with elections to Samserganj and Jangipur seats in Murshidabad district, which could not go to polls during the eight-phase assembly elections held earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the TMC has pulled out all the stops to ensure Banerjee’s victory by a record margin and has engaged senior leaders to look after the eight municipal wards of the constituency. The party’s state president (Subrata Bakshi) has been given the responsibility of ward 63, party general secretary and minister Partha Chatterjee has been given ward numbers 71 and 72, state minister Firhad Hakim and other senior leaders have been asked to look after other wards. .
Banerjee hails from Bhabnipur and has contested from this seat in the last two state assembly elections since 2011.
Banerjee, who led her party to a massive electoral victory for a third consecutive term, will have to win a seat in the state assembly by November 5 in line with constitutional provisions to continue as chief minister. The constitution allows a non-member of a state legislature or parliament to hold a ministerial position for six months.
After his defeat in Nandigram, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabnipur Sovandev Chattopadhyay vacated the seat to hold elections from there. Banerjee had entered the assembly in 2011 after winning a by-election to the Bhabnipur seat, months after her party came to power overthrowing 34-year-old Left Front rule. She is a six-time MP from South Kolkata Lok Sabha seat. , which has Bhabnipur seat as a segment.
Read more: Bhawanipur by-election: Shrijib Biswas of CPI(M) will take on Mamata Banerjee
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