Trinamool announces candidates for bypolls in six Bengal Assembly seats

Kolkata, Oct 20 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Sunday named candidates for six Assembly constituencies in West Bengal for the November 13 by-elections. 

The six Assembly constituencies where bypolls would be held are -- Sitai in Cooch Behar district; Madarihat in Alipurduar district; Naihati and Haroa in North 24 Parganas; Medinipur in West Midnapore district, and Taldangra in Bankura district.

According to a statement by Trinamool Congress, the six candidates are -- Sangita Roy from Sitai; Jay Prakash Toppa from Madarihat; Sanat Dey from Naihati; Rabiul Islam from Haroa; Sujoy Hazra from Medinipur, and Falguni Singhababu from Taldangra.

Trinamool Congress is the second major political party in West Bengal to announce the party candidates for the forthcoming bypolls in the state.

The BJP was the first on this count by announcing their candidates for these 6 assembly constituencies on Saturday afternoon.

On the other hand, Congress and CPI-M-led Left Front are yet to announce their candidates for the bypolls.

It is yet uncertain whether Congress and the Left Front will continue with their seat sharing arrangement as they did since the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.

All these six constituencies are going for by-polls as their erstwhile MLAs are currently Lok Sabha members after getting elected in the general elections this year.

Barring Madarihat, which had a BJP legislator, Trinamool Congress candidates got elected from the remaining five in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls.

The bypolls are being considered extremely crucial for both Trinamool Congress and BJP as the elections will be held in the backdrop of the situation in West Bengal amid the ghastly rape and murder of a junior woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August this year.

The bypolls across various Assembly constituencies in the country are being held along with the Assembly polls in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

While polling will be held in two phases -- November 13 and 20 -- in Jharkhand, voting for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held in a single phase on November 20.

The results of Assembly elections as well as the bypolls will be declared on November 23.

--IANS

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