TMC announces candidates for bypolls to 6 Assembly seats in West Bengal, relies on local faces and youth

The bypolls are being held in the six Assembly segments that fell vacant after the sitting MLAs resigned following their election to the Lok Sabha in June this year.

In the Madarihat ST-reserved Assembly seat in Alipurduar district of North Bengal, the TMC has fielded Jayprakash Toppo, a local grassroots leader.

Madirhat is the only seat out of the six going to bypolls that was won by the BJP in the 2021 Assembly elections. The rest were won by the TMC.

Here, Toppo will be pitted against BJP’s Rahul Lohar, a former Left student leader.

In the Sitai SC-reserved Assembly seat in Cooch Behar district, the TMC has chosen Sangita Roy, wife of Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Basunia.

She will be contesting against Dipak Kumar Roy of the BJP. Roy, like Lohar, was earlier associated with the Left and joined BJP later.

In Taldangra in Bankura district, the TMC has decided to field young Falguni Singhababu, the party block president of Simlipal in the district.

TMC district unit president Aroop Chakraborty, who had won from Taldangra in 2021 and had to vacate the seat after getting elected to Parliament, had suggested the party leadership three names, which sources said were rejected. The party was also considering fielding local Zila parishad sabhadhipati Anasua Roy.

Singhababu, however, has been picked and she will now face BJP’s Ananya Roy Chakraborty.

In Naihati, the TMC has picked local municipal councillor Sanat De. Sources said that De trumped Trinamool Chhatra Parishad president Trinankur Bhattacharya, whose candidature was being backed by former local MLA and now an MP, Partha Bhowmik. Bhowmik, who had won from Naihati Assembly seat in 2021, had defeated BJP’s Arjun Singh in the Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said that De’s name was among the three listed by I-PAC, the political consultant firm hired by the TMC.

De will now take on local BJP leader Rupak Mitra in the bypolls.

For the Medinipur Assembly seat in Paschim Medinipur district, the ruling party has decided to field district unit president Sujay Hazra.

Hazra’s candidature was on the expected lines. “If Hazra can be the MLA and the district unit president at the same time, his leadership will be firmly established in the district. So, the party leadership is considering his name,” a senior TMC leader had told The Indian Express before his name was announced.

Hazra will face BJP’s Shubhajit Roy.

In Haroa seat in North 24 Parganas district that fell vacant after MLA Haji Nurul Islam was elected MP from Basirhat, the TMC has fielded his son Rabiul Islam. Haji Nurul Islam died last month. He was battling cancer.

While announcing the bypolls to the six Assembly seats, the Election Commission did not announce the date for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat which is vacant after Haji Nurul’s death. The EC said the decision not to notify election to Basirhat Lok Sabha seat was due to ongoing litigation over the June election.

Now, Rabiul Islam will be pitted against BJP’s Bimal Das.

“Our top leadership chose these local leaders as they have a clean, honest image, which could help in blunting the corruption allegations being levelled by the Opposition parties,” said a senior TMC leader.

While the BJP has named its six candidates, the Congress and the Left Front are yet to release their lists.

The counting of votes will take place on November 26.