Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, 10 March, filed her nomination from the Nandigram constituency for the upcoming Legislative Assembly polls.
Addressing a press conference after filing her nomination, the CM said, “I have always supported the uprising in Nandigram… I have sometimes wanted to be able to contest from Singur or Nandigram. I was reminded of Nandigram when I last came for a meeting here. There was no MLA at that time, the seat was vacant. So I asked, will it be okay if I contest?”
Mamata went on to say that she had gotten a very encouraging response from the crowd, and because of their support, she realised that Nandigram “is not just a slogan,” but the place where the kisan movement built up from.
Banerjee had announced that she would be fighting the polls from Nandigram on 18 January. This was made official on Friday, 5 March, as Trinamool Congress released its first list of candidates for the upcoming polls, with the CM announcing that she would only contest the election from Nandigram and not from her home seat of Bhowanipore.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced in its list of candidates for the polls on Saturday that newly inducted party leader Suvendu Adhikari will be contesting the Assembly election from the Nandigram seat.
Adhikari has said that he will file his nomination from the seat on 12 March.
Mamata Vs Suvendu
When asked if this is a tough election, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dismissed the question. "This is a smiley election," she said.
"I don't go back on my word," she further added, referring to her announcement that she will contest from the seat at a rally in Nandigram.
Nandigram was the Assembly constituency of former TMC leader Adhikari till he resigned from the Bengal Assembly and went on to join the BJP on 19 December. He had won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate.
Banerjee contesting from Nandigram this time around is a direct challenge to Adhikari, whose tumultuous exit from the party was followed by many others leaving the TMC for the BJP.
Taking a swipe at her, Adhikari has called Banerjee an “outsider” on her move to contest the state elections from Nandigram.
The election in West Bengal will be held in eight phases starting 27 March and end with the final round of voting on 29 April. Meanwhile, votes will be counted on 2 May.
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