The Trinamul Congress today announced three candidates for the Assembly by-elections. By-elections are scheduled to be held on 10 July in four Assembly constituencies. Earlier, the party had fielded Supti Pandey, widow of Sadhan Pandey, veteran Trinamul Congress leader from Manicktala Assembly seat. The seat fell vacant after Sadhan Pandey died. In the three remaining seats, the candidates had contested in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election and lost. In Raigunj, Trinamul’s nominee is Krishna Kalyani.
He fought in the Lok Sabha election and was defeated by Kartik Pal of BJP. In Ranaghat-Dakshin, the Trinamul Congress nominee is Dr Mukut Mani Adhikari. Dr Adhikari who was in the BJP joined Trinamul Congress and was fielded against Jagannath Sarkar of BJP in the Lok Sabha election. Mr Sarkar, the sitting BJP MP, retained the seat. In Bagda, Trinamul’s nominee is Madhuparna Thakur. Trinamul MLA from Bagda, Mr Biswajit Das fought in the Lok Sabha election and lost to Mr Shantanu Thakur, the sitting BJP MP. Mr Thakur has become the minister of state for Shipping.