The senior leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and agriculture minister in the cabinet, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, had won from the Bhowanipore constituency in the recently held Assembly elections.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who won the Assembly elections by a landslide victory but lost her Nandigram seat to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, is set to contest a byelection from her old seat, Bhowanipore.
The senior leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and agriculture minister in the cabinet, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, had won from the Bhowanipore constituency in the recently held Assembly elections. On directions from the party leadership, Mr Chattopadhyay resigned on Friday to vacate the seat for Ms Banerjee, reported ThePrint.
A leader who gets selected for the post of a minster or Chief Minister without winning or contesting an election needs to be elected to the legislative assembly or council within six months of taking oath of office.
Mr Chattopadhyay submitted his resignation to West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee and said that Mamata Banerjee will fight from Bhowanipore in the coming six months, reported NDTV. He will continue to serve as the state Agriculture Minister for six months and will contest from another seat to return to the Assembly.
Mr Adhikari had switched to BJP and contested election from Nandigram seat. He won by a slight margin of 1,956 votes. After Mr Adhikari had quit the TMC, Ms Banerjee had declared she would contest from Nandigram instead of Bhowanipore that had helped her regain her position in the Assembly in 2011 and 2016.
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