Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 15: An electoral understanding between two alliance partners of the opposition INDIA bloc is unlikely to be reached for the coming byelections for two seats to the West Bengal Assembly with the state unit of the Congress currently considering the erstwhile ruling party the Trinamool Congress (TMC) a “liability.”
With Wednesday being the last day for filling nominations for the October 6 bypoll for the Nandigram and Rejinagar seats, both the Congress and the TMC have announced candidates for both the seats after the Congress central leadership failed to respond to the former chief minister and the TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s request for electoral understanding to share the two seats between the two parties. Both the Congress and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC are alliance partners of the INDIA bloc.
The TMC rebels led by the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly Ritabrata Banerjee, and the left parties have also announced their candidates for the two seats while the ruling BJP is going solo to further stamp its supremacy in the political arena in the state.
While no official statements have been issued by either the TMC or the Congress on the West Bengal Assembly byelections, the party sources said Trinamool chief Banerjee had dialled Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal with an alliance proposal but didn’t hear back from him. The Congress was also the first party in Bengal to declare its candidates for the high-voltage Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls next month.
The State Congress chief Subhankar Sarkar said the Congress hasn’t shut the door to parties ideologically opposed to the BJP, but the Trinamool, at this point, appeared to be a “liability” that can potentially bring down an alliance. He, however, did not made any reference to the current unpopularity of the erstwhile ruling party among the masses but suggested that the fight between the two factions over being recognised as the “real Trinamool” could cost the Congress too if it forged an electoral understanding with Mamata Banerjee’s TMC.
“The Trinamool is embroiled in a fight over the symbol. If we go by the Shiv Sena symbol tussle, in all likelihood, the EC will do as directed by the BJP. If it loses the symbol, the momentum will be lost and impact the Congress,” he explained. The Congress in Bengal has witnessed Trinamool’s quick disintegration and is battling an internal turmoil after a crushing defeat in the state polls this May.
“The BJP has formed a shadow opposition under Ritabrata Banerjee. If Mamata Banerjee wants oxygen, she needs the Congress. Our doors are open, but it has to be unconditional support to the Congress,” added Sarkar. Reports claim Banerjee had offered the Nandigram seat to Congress while seeking support for the Rejinagar seat in Murshidabad, a minority-dominated assembly constituency.
The bypoll scheduled on October 6, the first after the BJP came to power in Bengal, will be closely watched and hotly contested. Nandigram will be a prestige battle for the BJP since this seat was vacated by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who retained his Bhabanipur seat in Kolkata, where he had defeated Mamata Banerjee.
The BJP on Tuesday announced Hasirani Rath, the mother of the chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s former private secretary Chandranath Rath, who was murdered a day after the state Assembly elections results were announced in May bringing the BJP to power for the first time ever in the eastern state, as its candidate for Nandigram while Sakharav Sarkar was named as its candidate for the Rejingar seat. Sarkar is a former BJP president of Murshidabad district and a member of the party’s state committee.
The Nandigram seat in Purba Medinipur district was vacated by Adhikari, who retained Bhabanipur after winning both constituencies in the 2026 assembly elections. The Rejinagar assembly constituency in Murshidabad district was vacated by Aam Janata Unnayan Party founder Humayun Kabir, who had also won from Nowda.
The BJP’s announcement came a day after the rebel TMC faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee nominated Mohammad Eteshamul Haque for Nandigram and Safiuzamman Sheikh for the Rejinagar seats after Mamata Banerjee refused to take their offer to stay away from Nandigram if she herself contested the byelection from Nandigram. The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction has fielded Sanchita Pradhan Dey from Nandigram and former MLA Rabiul Alam Chowdhury from Rejinagar.
The byelections will be particularly significant for the two factions of the TMC as these will be the first major electoral test for the rival factions since the TMC split following the party’s defeat in the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections. The Ritabrata camp had earlier said it would not field a candidate from Nandigram if Mamata Banerjee herself contested the seat.
With Mamata Banerjee not entering the fray, the faction has now put up its nominee, setting the stage for a direct contest between the two TMC camps. The rival nominations have transformed the bypolls into an unusual contest in which both factions will seek to establish themselves as the legitimate political successor of the TMC, even as the BJP looks to capitalise on the division within the opposition party.
The Election Commission has already heard representations from both the camps claiming to be recognised as the “real TMC” and allotted the party name and election symbol of “jora ghas phool” (twin flowers on grass) as well as the organisational machinery and the party assets.