After sitting MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay withdrawn from the Assembly on Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee is expected to contest a by-election from the Bhabanipur constituency here.
In the presence of party leader and industries minister Partha Chatterjee and others, Chattopadhyay, the minister of agriculture, submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay in his chamber. “Within six months, the chief minister must be chosen as a lawmaker. Mamata Banerjee’s constituency was where I ran in this year’s election. After tendering his resignation, Chattopadhyay told reporters, “Today, I am resigning from this seat so that she can be elected from Bhabanipur.”
He added, “I personally and the party wants her to contest from Bhabanipur. She will now decide the future course of my political career.”
According to sources, the minister could run from one of two seats in Murshidabad district — Samserganj and Jangipur — where polls were delayed after two party leaders died of Covid-19, or from Khardah in North 24 Parganas, where TMC candidate and eventual winner Kajal Sinha died of the respiratory disease days after polling.
Despite the fact that party insiders speculated that Chattopadhyay could be elected to the Rajya Sabha, the minister almost ruled it out. “There’s a possibility I’ll run from a different seat. I’m not sure which one it is right now. On this, the chief minister will make a decision. He told reporters, “Right now, I have no intention to go to the Rajya Sabha.”
Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay said, “I have enquired from him if he has resigned voluntarily and without coercion. I am satisfied, and I have accepted his resignation.”
The TMC gained 213 seats in the Assembly elections, while the BJP won 77 seats, according to the results declared on May 2. Mamata Banerjee had given up her conventional Bhabanipur seat to Chattopadhyay in order to run in Purba Medinipur district’s Nandigram seat against her former confidante-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Despite her party’s landslide win, Banerjee was defeated by Adhikari by 1,956 votes. Initial reports said that the TMC leader had defeated Adhikari by 1,200 votes, causing controversy. Banerjee promised to go to court to appeal the findings after the findings were announced, but she now seems to have backed down. To keep her seat in the Assembly, she must be re-elected within six months.
Banerjee did not run for election in 2011 when the TMC ended the Left Front’s three-decade reign. She secured a by-election in Bhabanipur to keep her seat. She was re-elected in the 2016 state elections.
