Mamata calls for united fight ahead of December 15 polls

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Monday directed the legislators of East Midnapore to fight unitedly to win the elections of Contai Cooperative Bank scheduled on December 15.

The Supreme Court has issued directions for conducting the cooperative bank polls through deployment of Central Forces. According to sources, Banerjee, who held a meeting in her Assembly

chamber, instructed the seven legislators of East Midnapore to keep aside differences, if any and fight unitedly. Banerjee formed a committee of the MLAs of East Midnapore in connection with the polls and made Akhil Giri, MLA Ramnagar the observer. According to sources, the committee will sit for their first meeting in this regard at Kolaghat on Tuesday.

The deliberations in the meeting are expected to be briefed to Banerjee later in the day at Digha, where she is slated to visit on Tuesday to oversee the construction of Jagannath temple. The Contai Cooperative Bank election will elect 108 representatives. Some election venues have been changed due to a national examination on Sunday. 5 voting venues have been changed among 241 centres. The Adhikari family is known for having control of the administrative affairs of the bank. Suvendu Adhikari had been the chairman of the bank for a reasonable period.

The total number of voters of this Cooperative Bank vote is over 80,000. “Suvendu Adhikari is not contesting the elections this time. However, the voting of the Cooperative bank is surely a prestige fight for us,“ a senior TMC leader of Contai said.