Trinamul Congress is leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory of its candidates for the by-election, scheduled to be held on 10 July.
Of the four seats, Trinamul Congress had won the Maniktala seat. The seat fell vacant after Sadhan Pandey, the MLA, died. Trinamul has nominated his widow Supti Pandey. She is pitted against Kalyan Chaubey of Bharatiya Janata Party. Chaubey lost to late Pandey in the 2021 Assembly election.
In Raiganj, Trinamul’s nominee is Krisha Kalyani. Mr Kalyani joined Trinamul from the BJP and was nominated for the Lok Sabha election in Balurghat seat. He lost to Sukanta Mazumdar, state BJP president. Mr Mazumdar is now the minister of state for education in the Union government.
Trinamul’s nominee from Ranaghat South seat is Dr Mukutmani Adhikari. Dr Adhikari joined Trinamul Congress and was pitted against Jagannath Sarkar of BJP in the recently-held Lok Sabha election. He lost to Mr Sarkar.
Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur is contesting from Bagda Assembly seat in the by-election. Biswajit Das, BJP MLA from Bagdah joined Trinamul Congress. Mr Das had fought against Mr Shantanu Thakur in the general election and lost. Mr Thakur is the minister of state for shipping. Mr Das refused to contest from Bagdah and so the party nominated Miss Thakur.
Trinamul Congress is holding a meeting and road show in Maniktala seat. Kunal Ghosh is in charge of the election. A road show was held yesterday where party veteran Swarnakamal Saha and Mr Ghosh took part, beside the candidate Mrs Pandey.
Partha Bhowmick who defeated Arjun Singh of BJP in the recently-concluded general election, addressed a rally in Bagdah, yesterday. He spoke about the development that has taken place in vast areas surrounding Bagdah.
Senior Trinamul Congress leaders said party leaders will campaign for the candidates. The campaign will end on 8 July and the by-election will take place on 10 July. There will be bypolls in four more seats where the MLAs have become MPs.