The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) has announced its candidates for the upcoming Nandigram and Rejinagar bye-elections. The AITC named Sanchita Pradhan as its candidate for Nandigram and Rabiul Alam Chowdhury for Rejinagar bypolls. The bypoll in West Bengal along with other assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and a Parliamentary seat in Assam would be held on October 6, while the results would be declared on October 9.
Bye-elections schedule
The bypolls for Tamil Nadu would be held in Madurantakam and Dharapuram. In Puducherry, the byelection would be held in Thattanchavady. Meanwhile, the Nagaon Parliamentary seat would also go to polls on October 6. For these byelections, the gazette notification will be issued on September 9 and the nominations will end on September 16. The date for scrutiny of nominations is September 17 and the last date for withdrawals is September 19, as per the poll body's schedule.
"The Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-election in all the polling stations," the ECI said in a release. "Adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the poll is conducted smoothly with the help of these machines."
Why the byelections were necessitated?
The byelections in Nandigram was necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari decided to retain the Bhabanipur seat following his victory against Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee there. Similarly, Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir had won from both seats he contested, Rejinagar and Nawda, but has decided to retain the latter.
In Madurantakam, the seat was won by former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Maragatham Kumaravel. However, Kumaravel resigned as an MLA in May and quit the AIADMK before joining Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). On the other hand, AIADMK's P Sathyabama represented Dharapuram, but resigned along with Kumaravel and joined the TVK.
In Puducherry, Chief Minister N Rangasamy contested from two seats: Thattanchavady and Mangalam. He has decided to retain Mangalam, while vacating Thattanchavady, leading to the bypoll. In Assam, the byelection has been called in Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency, which was represented by Congress' Pradyut Bordoloi. However, just before the assembly elections in Assam, Bordoloi quit the Congress and resigned from the Lok Sabha and subsequently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to contest from the Dispur Assembly seat, which he eventually won.
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