The coming by-elections for six seats have opened up room for fresh speculation in Bengal — on whether former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest from one of them. Even in absence of any comment from Banerjee, it has become a talking point.
The first is Rejinagar vacated by Humayun Kabir, who had also won from the Naoda constituency. There is also Nandigram – vacated by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari who retained the Bhabanipur seat where he beat Banerjee this year. Two seats from Bengal will be up for polls, due on October 6.
Many believe that given the BJP’s rise in Bengal and the defections in Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, the party chief should lead the party from the front. To do that, it is essential to contest and ensure her seat in the assembly. Rejinagar – located in Murshidabad district within the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency – many say, is best left to the Congress. Party insiders suggested that Banerjee should form an alliance with the Congress for the by-elections on these two seats.
Statistics indicate that Nandigram could be the safer bet for the former Chief Minister, even though she lost to Adhikari there in the 2021 elections. Back then, Adhikari had defeated Banerjee by 1,956 votes. This time, he beat the Trinamool candidate by a margin of 9,665 votes.
It could work better for Trinamool since this is an area where Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has served as MP multiple times, they said. “People are with Mamata Banerjee, and our candidate will certainly contest the election from there,” said Trinamool Congress’s Kunal Ghosh.
