The BJP has announced candidates today for the by-election in four state Assembly constituencies. On Monday, a BJP notification revealed that former footballer and president of All India Football Federation Kalyan Chaubey will contest from Maniktala in Kolkata.
Binay Biswas will compete in Bagda in North 24-Parganas, an area with a significant Matua community. In Ranaghat South, Nadia, also dominated by the Matua community, the BJP has fielded Manoj Kumar Biswas. At Raiganj in north Bengal, the BJP has nominated Manas Kumar Ghosh.
In the 2021 state Assembly elections, BJP candidates Krishna Kalyani and Mukutmani Adhikari won from Raiganj and Ranaghat South, respectively. They later joined Trinamul. In the Lok Sabha elections, Krishna was fielded from Raiganj and Mukutmani from Ranaghat by the state’s ruling party. Both resigned from their legislative Assembly positions, necessitating the by-election. Although they did not win the Lok Sabha seats, Trinamul has reposed trust in these turncoat leaders again for the by-election, renominating Krishna Kalyani and Mukutmani for the vacated seats. In the last Assembly election, BJP candidate Biswajit Das won from Bagda. He later switched to Trinamul and was fielded in the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency but lost to BJP’s Shantanu Thakur. Following Biswajit’s resignation from the Assembly, a bypoll in Bagda is being held. Trinamul has nominated Madhupurna Thakur, daughter of Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, instead of Biswajit.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, veteran Trinamul leader and former state minister Sadhan Pande won from the Maniktala constituency in Kolkata. Sadhan passed away in February 2022. Although Maniktala remained without a legislator for a long time, a by-election was not held because the defeated BJP candidate Kalyan Chaubey had filed an election petition in the Kolkata High Court. With the recent resolution of this legal issue, BJP has nominated Kalyan Chaubey for Maniktala, while Trinamul has fielded Supti Pande, wife of the late Sadhan Pande.