TMC declares CM Mamata Banerjee as its candidate for Bhabanipur by-poll on September 30

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday officially announced Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as its candidate for the Bhabanipur by-polls. Banerjee, who lost the Assembly election from the Nandigram seat, needs to win this by-poll to retain her chief minister's seat.

TMC has already started campaigning in south Kolkata, with the Election Commission announcing that the by-poll will be held on September 30, following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis. The BJP, Congress, and CPI(M)-led Left Front is yet to announce their candidates for the by-poll. The by-poll will be held along with the elections to two remaining seats in the Murshidabad district - Samserganj and Jangipur, where polling could not be held during the eight-phase assembly polls earlier this year.

Jakir Hossain has been named TMC's candidate in the Jangipur seat, while Amirul Islam will be contesting as the party's candidate from the Samserganj constituency. Elections on the three seats will be held on September 30, and the counting of votes will take place on October 3.

The Nandigram battle

In a bid to protect her home turf, Mamata Banerjee had battled BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, the place which had catapulted her into the CM post in 2011. Taking the battle head-on, Banerjee had announced she would contest polls from Nandigram instead of her bastion Bhowanipore, leading to BJP fielding Adhikari.

The nail-biting clincher saw Adhikari take the lead by 4000 seats over Mamata Banerjee, but later, the margin reduced to mere six votes before Mamata took the lead. Though Mamata accepted her defeat, she said that she had challenged the electoral verdict in Calcutta High court. She took oath as CM for the third time after TMC won 213 seats, whereas BJP could win in only 77 constituencies. Adhikari is now the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.

Veteran politician Sovandeb Chattopadhyay stepped down as the TMC MLA of Bhabanipur, allowing CM Banerjee a chance to become an MLA by fighting the by-election. Chattopadhyay had defeated BJP's actor-politician Rudranil Ghosh by around 28,000 votes from the Bhabanipur seat this year.

(With inputs from agency)

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