Trinamool Congress officially announced chief minister on Sunday Mamata Banerjee as his candidate for Bhawanipur by-election. The TMC’s campaign in the South Kolkata seat is already underway with the Election Commission announcing the bypolls on Saturday following the state government’s request to avoid a constitutional crisis.
Banerjee, who lost the election in Nandigram, has to win this by-election to retain her chief minister’s post. The BJP, Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front are yet to announce their candidates for the bypolls.
Bypolls will be held on September 30 along with elections to two seats in Murshidabad district – Samserganj and Jangipur, which could not go to polls during the eight-phase assembly elections held earlier this year. Counting of votes will take place on October 3.
Zakir Hussain is the TMC candidate from Jangipur seat, while Amirul Islam is contesting from Samserganj as the party’s candidate. Veteran politician Sovandeb Chattopadhyay stepped down as TMC MLA from Bhabnipur, giving Banerjee a chance to become a member of the state legislative assembly by contesting a by-election.
Chattopadhyay had defeated BJP’s actor-politician Rudranil Ghosh from Bhawanipur by nearly 28,000 votes. Banerjee had won from Bhabnipur twice since 2011. She had walked out of her traditional seat to contest in Nandigram during the assembly elections earlier this year, but lost to her former close aide Suvendu Adhikari, who contested on a BJP ticket.
Adhikari is now the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The notification for the Bhabnipur by-election will be issued on September 6, with which the nomination process will begin. The last date for filing nominations is September 13, while the scrutiny of papers will take place on September 14. September 16 is the last date to withdraw from the electoral battle.
According to an Election Commission statement, the Chief Secretary of West Bengal had urged that in view of administrative exigencies and public interest and to avoid a vacuum in the state, the by-election for Bhabnipur, from where CM Mamata Banerjee intends to contest. Yes, maybe. operated. He has to become a member of the state legislature by November 5.
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