Bhabanipur assembly bypoll: Mamata Banerjee set to begin her election campaign from today, Congress not to field any candidate

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress candidate from Bhabanipur, Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to start her campaign for Assembly by-polls from Wednesday (September 8, 2021). 

"Mamata Banerjee will start her campaign as TMC candidate for the by-election in Bhabanipur constituency from September 8," TMC sources said on Tuesday. 

On Saturday, the Election Commission has announced to hold by-elections to three assembly seats -Bhabanipur, Jangipur and Samserganj - in West Bengal on September 30. 

Bhabanipur is the traditional seat of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. TMC on Sunday officially announced that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the party`s candidate for the Bhabanipur assembly. 

Further, TMC leaders Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam will be the party`s candidates for Jangipur and Samserganj seats respectively.

Meanwhile, Congress has said that it will not field its candidate in the Bhabanipur bypoll against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The announcement was made by West Bengal Congress unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The bypoll is crucial for Banerjee to win if she wants to remain the chief minister of the state. In the state Assembly elections held earlier this year, Banerjee suffered defeat at the hands of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram assembly constituency.

The BJP, which emerged as the main Opposition party in West Bengal after the Assembly polls, is yet to announce its candidate against Banerjee. 

The Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.