Mamata Banerjee to contest from Bhowanipore after losing Nandigram; Sobhandeb resigns

Cementing Mamata's third stint as West Bengal CM, Bhowanipore MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay submitted his resignation to Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday, paving the way for Mamata's re-election from her bastion. Banerjee was sworn in for a third consecutive term on May 5 after she retained Bengal but lost the Nandigram polls to her ex-aide Suvendu Adhikari. TMC won  213 seats whereas BJP could win in only 77 constituencies.

Mamata to fight from Bhowanipore

Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay who held the Rashbehari constituency since 1998 - when Trinamool split from Congress, won the Bhowanipore constituency after Mamata decided to contest only from Nandigram, taking the battle directly to Suvendu Adhikari. Recently, Banerjee's cabinet passed a resolution to form a Legislative Council in Bengal, presumably a bid to get Mamata nominated to the Council instead of a by-election. This effort though has run a major obstacle as the creation of a legislative Assembly will need approval from Parliament where BJP holds sway. 

The Nandigram battle

In a bid to protect her home-turf, Mamata Banerjee had battled BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in the place which had catapulted Mamata Banerjee into the CM post in 2011. Miffed by the rising influence of Banerjee's nephew - Abhishek Banerjee and IPAC poll strategist Prashant Kishor in Trinamool, Adhikari along with several other MLAs had switched to BJP. Taking the battle head-on, Banerjee had announced she will contest polls from Nandigram instead of her bastion Bhowanipore, leading to BJP fielding Adhikari. 

While Nandigram is a Trinamool bastion, it is the Adhikari family - Sisir, Suvendu, Dibyendu and Soumendu which has massive sway in the district - leading to Suvendu's victory over Mamata by a margin of 1737 votes. Though Mamata accepted her defeat, she said that she will challenge the electoral verdict in court. The nail-biting clincher saw Suvendu Adhikari take the lead by 4000 seats over Mamata Banerjee, but later the margin reduced to mere 6 votes, before Mamata took the lead.

The Nandigram poll battle saw the most high-voltage campaign as Mamata played her 'Bengal's daughter' card, while Suvendu has accused TMC of only 'promoting the nephew'. Mamata, who recently suffered an injury while campaigning in Nandigram - which she has blamed on BJP, has vowed to conduct her campaign on a wheelchair with the BJP calling it 'sympathy politics'. Mamata has also termed Adhikaris as 'Mir Jafars' while Suvendu has fearmongered that 'Bengal will become mini-Pakistan' if Mamata is re-elected. Suvendu has been rewarded by BJP with his election as Leader of Opposition.