Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee will start her campaign for the Lok Sabha elections from Krishnanagar on Sunday. She will address a rally at Sukanta Sporting playground in Dhubulia for the Trinamul Congress candidate for the seat, Mohua Moitra. The Lok Sabha election in north Bengal will start from 19 April and generally Miss Banerjee starts her campaign from the areas where elections are first held.

However, she has broken the convention and will kick off her campaign in Krishnanagar, in what is being seen as a sign of the party’s full support for Ms Moitra, whom the BJP has seemingly gone out of its way to cause trouble for. Ms Moitra was expelled from the outgoing Lok Sabha in December 2023 after the Parliamentary Ethics Committee, headed by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, held her guilty of “unethical conduct” and contempt of the House by sharing her Lok Sabha credentials with unauthorised persons.

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Recently, Directorate of Enforcement officials had raided her father’s flat in south Kolkata and her party office in Krishnanagar. Ms Moitra has approached the Election Commission over this, alleging that the raid had affected her campaigning. There had been reports in some sections of the media that the TMC has distanced itself from Ms Moitra, which were proved wrong when Ms Moitra was fielded by the party for the second time. Miss Banerjee’s decision to start her election campaign from Ms Moitra’s constituency has further put paid to that speculation.

Miss Banerjee had criticised the role of ED in conducting raids at Ms Moitra’s father’s flat and her office while the electoral Model Code of Conduct is in force. Miss Banerjee had criticised the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and earlier of Hemant Soren, chief minister of Jh- arkhand. She will address the gathering at Dhubulia at 12 noon. The district administration held a meeting to discuss her security arrangements. She will go to Nadia by helicopter. The BJP has fielded Rajmata Amrita Roy against Ms Moitra. She belongs to the family of Raja Krishnachandra.