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Bypolls: Trinamool eyes clean sweep in Maniktala seat

Bypolls: Trinamool eyes clean sweep in Maniktala seat
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Kolkata: Supti Pande who is contesting from Maniktala Assembly in the by-elections on Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket is eying a clean sweep thereby defending her late husband Sadhan Pande’s legacy. Bypolls will be held in this seat on July 10.

The Maniktala Constituency has been a stronghold for the TMC which has held the seat since 2011. On the final day of the election campaign, a huge rally was taken out in Pande’s support where senior TMC leader Aroop Biswas campaigned for her. Biswas held a massive roadshow with 30 renowned sports personalities from the Ultadanga Rail Bridge up to Hatibagan More. The roadshow received a tremendous response from the people who thronged the road.

The bypoll in Maniktala was necessitated following the demise of Sadhan Pande in 2022, who was then serving as minister for Consumer Affairs & Self-Help Group & Self-Employment.

He was a three-time TMC MLA from Maniktala. There has been significant support for Supti Pande with her archrival BJP facing a split ahead of the

Maniktala bypoll. Several BJP workers from Ward 16 joined TMC recently. TMC leaders and workers have come up with a unique sloganeering campaign — ‘Maniktala Nijer Boudi Kei Chaay’ (Maniktala wants its sister-in-law) in a similar tune with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee’s 2021 election campaign slogan of ‘Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaay’ (Bengal wants its daughter).

Though, the BJP had led in two wards in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. TMC had trailed at Ward 16 by about 500 votes and at Ward 31 by around 5,000 votes. However, Supti Pande is confident about her victory in the bypoll. The BJP has again fielded All India Football Federation (AIFF) chief Kalyan Chaubey from Maniktala.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, Chaubey had contested from the same seat on a BJP ticket, but lost to Sadhan Pande, by a margin of little over 20,000 votes. Chaubey challenged the result in the Calcutta High Court, alleging irregularities and demanding a recount of votes. As a result of the petition, a bypoll could not be held in Maniktala even after Pande died in 2022. Chaubey withdrew the petition in April, paving the way for the bypoll to be held now.

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