Mamata bloc names candidates for Nandigram & Rejinagar bypolls
Times of India | 14 September 2026According to Trinamool seniors, former state minister Akhil Giri was previously considered for the nomination at Nandigram – a Suvendu Adhikari bastion which the CM vacated after picking Bhowanipore as his seat. Giri visited Kalighat on Sunday to meet Mamata Banerjee. However, after discussions, the party decided to pick Pradhan. In the 2023 panchayat elections, Pradhan unsuccessfully contested a panchayat samiti seat from Nandigram II.
The Ritabrata Banerjee camp had been urging Mamata to contest from Nandigram herself, promising not to field a candidate if she did. Riju Datta, spokesperson for the Ritabrata camp, said, “Mamata Banerjee did not accept our challenge to contest from Nandigram. Maybe she’s scared. Tomorrow the All India Trinamool Congress will declare its candidates for the upcoming bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar.”
Giri, meanwhile, remarked, “If the Election Commission does any injustice to Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress, we will approach the Supreme Court.”
Rabiul Alam Chowdhury – nephew of three-time former Beldanga MLA Nurul Chowdhury – is a three-time former MLA from Rejinagar. In 2013, he won the bypoll on a Congress ticket and was reelected in 2016 and 2021 on TMC ticket. In 2016, he was also asked to contest from Beldanga, where he lost. Chowdhury will be pitted against AJUP chief Humayun Kabir’s son Golam Nabi Azad, Congress candidate Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi, and CPM’s Syed Asad Ali. BJP and the Ritabrata camp are yet to name their candidates.
Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, Trinamool’s most important Assam face, resigned from the party to join BJP following the May 4 election results.
