Kolkata, Oct 4 (PTI) Political parties are making a final push to woo voters in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies as campaigning for the October 6 bypolls to the two seats in West Bengal ends on Sunday evening.
Congress nominee Milan Pradhan has been leading an intense canvassing since hitting the campaign trail on Thursday after getting bail from the Calcutta High Court, as he tries hard to make up for the lost time.
He was arrested on September 18 in connection with six cases dating back to the 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation in Nandigram. The Congress nominee was arrested after Mamata Banerjee extended her TMC faction’s support to him since her own candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew from the Nandigram contest following a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Pradhan has been visiting almost every part of Nandigram and seeking support from voters, while his opponents also stepped up their campaign in the final days.
BJP nominee Hasirai Rath has been very busy in the hustings, which has been bolstered by senior party leaders addressing rallies in her support.
The candidature of the mother of Adhikari’s close aide Chandranath Rath, who was killed just two days after West Bengal Assembly poll results were declared, was unsuccessfully challenged by the Congress in the high court over an alleged discrepancy between her age and the year she passed class 10. The court has dismissed the petition.
CM Adhikari will hold rallies in Nandigram on Sunday in her support.
Besides the BJP and the Congress, the Left, ISF and the Ritabrata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress are also in the fray.
Rejinagar in Murshidabad district is witnessing a multi-cornered contest involving the BJP, Congress, the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) and the two factions of the TMC.
The campaigning is expected to intensify on Sunday.
An Independent candidate for the Rejinagar bypoll was arrested last month in a five-year-old case of a clash between two groups during the 2021 state elections.
The bypoll will be held on October 6, with the counting of votes slated for October 9.
The two bypolls were necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari vacated Nandigram, which he had won alongside Bhabanipur, while Rejinagar fell vacant after AJUP chief Humayun Kabir retained Nawda upon winning both seats in the 2026 assembly elections. PTI SCH NSD
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