TMC's bypoll campaign for Bhowanipore sans big rallies; no contender against Mamata so far

KOLKATA: Even as other political parties are yet to announce the names of their candidates for the Bhowanipore bypoll, Trinamool Congress (TMC)—which has officially announced party chairperson Mamata Banerjee as its nominee from the constituency—is gearing up for the poll campaign, anticipating a landslide victory.

However, the party has decided to hold no big rallies in the constituency, which will go to polls on September 30, in view of the pandemic. Rather, the party has decided to organise street corner meetings. The Election Commission announced the bypoll on Saturday, following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis.

Meanwhile, Trinamool party leaders and workers in Bhowanipore held a meeting on Sunday evening to discuss the campaign strategy. Party heavyweights Subrata Bakshi, state president of TMC, Debashis Kumar, president south Kolkata district president and Mala Roy, party's MP from south Kolkata were present at the meeting. Banerjee, who was on her way to Maidan to inaugurate the Durand Cup, stopped her vehicle on DL Khan Road where some party workers led by Madan Mitra were drawing poll graffiti in her support. Banerjee talked to the party workers there.

The BJP, Congress, and CPI (M)-led Left Front are yet to announce their candidates for the by-poll. Sources said no state BJP leader was ready to contest the by-election in view of certain defeat. On September 30, bypoll will also be held on two seats in Murshidabad district—Samserganj and Jangipur— where polling could not be held during the eight-phase Assembly elections earlier this year. The counting of votes will take place on October 3. Jakir Hossain is the TMC candidate in the Jangipur seat, while Amirul Islam is contesting as the party's candidate from Samserganj.

Bhowanipore, a traditional Congress seat, was bagged by Trinamool Congress when the constituency was set up once again in 2011 after a gap of 39 years. The constituency became a part of the Chowringhee Assembly seat. From 1952 till 1972, Sadhan Gupta, CPI(M) candidate had won from the seat in 1969. Siddhartha Shankar Ray was elected from the seat twice, in 1957 and 1962 as an independent candidate. The Congress candidates had won in 1952, 1967, 1971 and 1972.

In 2011, Subrata Bakshi was elected from the seat. Banerjee was elected in the by-election in 2011. In 2016, she was re-elected from the seat. In the 2021 Assembly election, she was defeated by Suvendu Adhikari by a narrow margin from Nandigram.

Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who was elected from Bhowanipore seat in 2021, defeated Rudranil Ghosh of BJP by over 28,000 votes. Chattopadhyay, who is the state Agriculture minister now, resigned to make room for Mamata Banerjee.