After losing Nandigram, Mamata to contest bypoll from Bhawanipore, TMC MLA quits seat

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee will contest bypoll from the Bhawanipore assembly constituency as sitting MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigns from the seat on Friday.

Chattopadhyay formally submitted his resignation to West Bengal Legislative Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay. He confirmed that Mamata Banerjee will be contesting from Bhawanipore as she needs to get re-elected to the assembly within six months to hold on to the chief minister’s chair.

“The CM had won twice from Bhawanipore. All party leaders discussed and when I heard she wants to contest from here, I thought I should vacate my seat, there’s no pressure. Nobody else has courage to run govt. I spoke to her. It was her seat I was just protecting it,”

Banerjee had in the last two assembly elections contested and won from the Bhawanipore but this time she decided to contest from Nandigram against turncoat Suvendu Adhikari. However, Banerjee lost the seat to Adhikari.