The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday, 10 September, picked advocate Priyanka Tibrewal to contend against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur bypolls on 30 September.
Tibrewal's fielding assumes significance as Banerjee's election to the Assembly is crucial for her to retain her post as the CM. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Banerjee was defeated in Nandigram by her former associate-turned rival Suvendhu Adhikari who contested on a BJP ticket.
Tibrewal's Political Beginnings
Graduated from Delhi University, with a degree in law from the University of Calcutta, Tibrewal practices at the Calcutta High Court and Supreme Court, IANS reported.
Tibrewal came into the political mainstream after she advocated for an independent inquiry into the violence unleashed after the WB Assembly elections.
She approached the Calcutta High Court to seek justice for the murder of Abhijeet Sarkar, and was successful in getting court order for a CBI investigation and constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for probing cases of post-poll violence.
Legal Advisor to Youth Leader: Introduction in the BJP
After serving as legal advisor to Union Minister Babul Supriyo, Tibrewal joined the BJP upon his insistence in 2014.
Since 2020, Tibrewal serves as the vice-president of BJP’s youth wing in West Bengal. Party sources claim that she is an 'active and vocal young leader' of the party in Bengal, The Indian Express reported.
In the high-powered state Assembly elections of 2021, Tibrewal contested from Entally, but lost to her Trinamool Congress rival by over 58,000 votes.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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