The Trinamool Congress (TMC) nominee for the Assembly bye-election in West Bengal’s Rejinagar, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, initially withdrew his candidature but later decided to contest following Mamata Banerjee's instructions. This move comes after Sanchita Pradhan, another TMC candidate, withdrew her nomination for the Nandigram bye-poll following a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The initial decision to withdraw his candidature was made by Chowdhury himself. However, he later changed his mind and decided to contest as per instructions from TMC leader Mamata Banerjee.
This U-turn came a day after Sanchita Pradhan, the TMC’s candidate for the bye-poll in Nandigram, withdrew her nomination. Photographs of her meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had been shared online.
After Pradhan's withdrawal, Mamata Banerjee announced that her faction would support Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in Nandigram to strengthen the Opposition INDIA bloc. The TMC also decided not to contest the Lok Sabha bye-poll in Assam’s Nagaon.
Hours later, the Congress candidate in Nandigram was arrested in an old murder case.
The bye-election in Rejinagar was necessitated after Aam Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir vacated the seat. Kabir had won the Assembly elections in May from Rejinagar and Naoda. He decided to hold on to the Naoda constituency in line with the Representation of People Act, which allows a candidate who has won two seats to retain only one.
While the rival TMC faction has nominated Sheikh Saifuddin for the bye-poll, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Shankharav Sarkar. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has nominated Syed Asad Ali and the Congress has fielded Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi.
Earlier on Friday, the Election Commission allotted new names and symbols to both TMC factions. Mamata Banerjee’s group was assigned the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ with the ‘football player’ symbol. The rebel faction was allotted the name of ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ with the envelope as its symbol.
This came a day after the poll panel barred both factions from using the party’s name and the ‘flowers and grass’ symbol in the bye-polls.
Source:
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