BJP declares candidate for Bhabanipur; advocate Priyanka Tibrewal to take on WB CM Mamata

To give a tough fight to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, BJP has fielded state BJYM vice president Priyanka Tibrewal as its candidate in the Bhabanipur by-election. Tibrewal, who unsuccessfully contested the West Bengal Assembly polls from Entally, is also a practicing advocate in the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court. She was also one of the petitioners who moved the Calcutta HC over the post-poll violence in the state. 

Ultimately, a 5-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen, and Subrata Talukdar directed that all cases of murder and crimes against women including rape pertaining to the post-poll violence will be transferred to the CBI. Moreover, it entrusted all other cases referred by the NHRC to an SIT comprising IPS officers Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranbir Kumar. Earlier in the day, BJP appointed Lok Sabha MP Arjun Singh as the party's in-charge of the Bhabanipur by-election and will be assisted by fellow parliamentarian Saumitra Khan and Jyotirmay Singh Mahato.

Additionally, 8 sitting MLAs will serve as the observers for 8 wards of this constituency. While the WB BJP general secretary Sanjay Singh shall be the organizational in-charge, Shankar Sikdar, Agnimitra Paul and Somnath Banerjee have been named organizational co-in-charges. Meanwhile, Banerjee is expected to file submit her nomination papers on Friday. 

High-stakes battle for Bhabanipur

Accepting TMC turncoat Suvendu Adhikari's challenge to fight from Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly polls, two-time Bhabanipur MLA Mamata Banerjee lost by a narrow margin of fewer than 2000 votes. While she moved the Calcutta HC against Adhikari's victory in Nandigram, the TMC supremo has to get elected within a period of 6 months i.e by November 4 to continue as the Chief Minister. At present, only Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra are the two non-MLAs in the WB Council of Ministers. 

Soon after the election, WB Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay resigned as the Bhabanipur MLA paving way for Banerjee to contest from there. Taking into account the state Chief Secretary's assurance that the COVID-19 situation is under control, the Election Commission of India declared that by-elections to Bhabanipur, Samserganj and Jangipur will be conducted on September 30. The counting of votes is scheduled for October 3.

While Congress decided not to take part in the by-election, CPI(M) has named Shrijeeb Biswas as its candidate from Bhabanipur. Dismissing the challenge posed by the Left Front, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh insisted that it would be a direct faceoff between BJP and TMC. In the 2021 Assembly polls, TMC's Sovandeb Chattopadhyay defeated BJP's Rudranil Ghosh by a margin of 28,719 votes.