Vaishali, Madan, Rajib file their nominations

Trinamool Congress candidate from Kamarhati Assembly constituency Madan Mitra filed his nomination from Alipore Central Correction Home on Wednesday.

The other heavy weight Trinamool Congress candidates from Howrah including Vaishali Dalmiya from Bally Assembly constituency and Rajib Banerjee from Domjur Assembly constituency also filed their nominations on Wednesday.

Mitra, the sitting MLA from Kamarhati Assembly constituency and the former sports minister, is in the correctional home as he was arrested in connection with the Saradha Group scam.

He had signed all necessary documents in the presence of the superintendent of the correctional home on Tuesday. 

The documents including the affidavit declaring his assets were attested by the superintendent.

On Wednesday, Mitra’s counsel Niladri Bhattacharya and four proposers submitted the nomination papers in the office of the returning officer at Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas.

Mitra’s counsel later said the role of a proposer comes in when the contestant is in correctional home and cannot appear to file his or her nomination to fight in the election. 

There were four proposers including Samiran Das and Swapan Mondal. Both are councillors of Kamarhati Municipality. 

Pradip Ghosh, chief election agent of Mitra, was also present when the nomination was filed on Wednesday afternoon.

The elections, both in North 24-Parganas and Howrah are scheduled to be on April 25 and filing of nomination had begun from April 1.

In Howrah district, thousands of Trinamool Congress supporters from both Bally and Domjur Assembly constituencies marched up to the office of the district electoral officer led by their candidates Dalmiya and Banerjee on Wednesday afternoon.

The party supporters shout slogans seeking people to cast votes in favour of the candidates. 

After filing the nomination Dalmiya said: “I am quite confident of my win as people of Bally witnessed the development work that had taken place in the past four and half years. 

“Moreover, we are working hard, reaching to each and every area, to seek votes.”

The passersby were found congratulating Banerjee when he went to file his nomination.

Meanwhile, a rally of some CPI(M) supporters had reached near the office of the district electoral officer when the party’s candidate Baidyanath Basu went to file his nomination. 

The CPI(M) supporters reached when Banerjee went to file his nomination. The supporters then got engaged into an altercation. 

The police and jawans of the Central Force intervened and brought the supporters under control.