West Bengal Bypolls: Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday announced the names of candidates for six assembly constituencies in West Bengal where bypolls will be held on November 13.
The announcement came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its list of candidates.
The bypolls will be a litmus test for Mamata Banerjee-led TMC amid ongoing doctors' protests over the RG Kar incident. After the alleged rape and murder of a fellow medic at RG Kar Hospital, junior doctors began a 'cease-work' strike on August 9, transitioning to a hunger strike on October 5 after nearly 50 days of 'cease work' in two phases.
— Madarihat in Alipurduar district
— Sitai in Cooch Behar
— Naihati
— Haroa
— Taldangra in Bankura
— Medinipur in Paschim Medinipur district
The BJP nominated Rupak Mitra for Naihati, Bimal Das for Haroa, Rahul Lohar for Madarihat, Subhajit Roy for Medinipur, Ananya Roy Chakraborty for Taldangra and Dipak Kumar Roy for Sitai.
Bypolls are being held because of the resignations of sitting MLAs following their win in this year's Lok Sabha elections. Of the constituencies where bypolls will be held, the ruling TMC has won five of these seats in the 2021 assembly polls, except for Madarihat, which was held by the BJP.
"We are confident of retaining the Madarihat seat and winning the remaining five seats. The people of the state are fed up with the misrule of the TMC and after the RG Kar incident, the state government stands exposed," BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.
Polling for 47 assembly seats and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat will take place on November 13.
The by-polls will be held across 15 states, including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.
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