After Nandigram, Mamata faction candidate withdraws from Rejinagar bypoll race

Mamata Banerjee's faction of the Trinamool Congress suffered another setback as Rejinagar candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury withdrew his nomination on Saturday, a day after its Nandigram candidate also pulled out. Chowdhury cited difficulties faced by party workers and consulted Banerjee.

Kolkata: In another setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress, its candidate for the Rejinagar Assembly bypoll in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, withdrew his nomination on Saturday, a day after the faction pulled out of the contest in Nandigram.

The development comes a day after Sanchita Dey Pradhan, the candidate of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction for the Nandigram bypoll, withdrew her nomination following a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.

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Significantly, Mamata Banerjee had hinted at a possible withdrawal from the Rejinagar contest while speaking to media persons on Friday. “At Nandigram, we have decided to support the Congress candidate. As regards Rejinagar, we will take a decision later,” the former Chief Minister had said.

Confirming his decision, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury said party workers were reluctant to campaign under the new symbol allotted to the faction by the Election Commission of India (ECI). He also alleged administrative pressure on workers and claimed several activists had been arrested, making it difficult to contest the bypoll. He said the decision was taken after consultations with Mamata Banerjee.

With the withdrawal from both Nandigram and Rejinagar, it will be the first time since 1998 that an election in West Bengal is being held without a party founded and led by Mamata Banerjee in the fray.

On Friday, the ECI allotted the name “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and the symbol “Football Player” to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction. The rival faction headed by Ritabrata Banerjee was allotted the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and the symbol “Envelope”. Earlier, the poll panel had frozen the original party name “All India Trinamool Congress” and its traditional symbol “Flowers & Grass”.

Polling in both Nandigram and Rejinagar is scheduled for October 6, with counting of votes on October 9. In Rejinagar, the bypoll was necessitated after AJUP leader Humayun Kabir, elected from both Rejinagar and Naoda in the Assembly elections earlier this year, chose to retain the Naoda seat. His son, Golam Nabi Azad, is the AJUP candidate in the by-election.