Bharatiya Janata Party will field a strong candidate against chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhawanipore seat, the party's state chief Dilip Ghosh said on Sunday. The Bhawanipore seat is scheduled to go to bypoll on September 30.
"We will fight the election strongly. There is no doubt that it will be a tough fight as Mamata Banerjee is a big figure and the chief minister of the state. She has control of the entire state. We will also field strong candidates in West Bengal," Ghosh said as quoted by agencies.
On Saturday, the Election Commission has announced by-elections to three assembly seats in West Bengal on September 30. These include Bhawanipore, the traditional seat of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, from where she will contest the by-election. Besides Bhawanipore, bypolls will be held in Samserganj and Jangipur constituencies. The counting of votes will take place on October 3.
"We have defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram. Her slogan that 'Bengal wants its own daughter' flopped. The people of Bengal have shown that they do not want Mamata Banerjee. But after that, she is trying to come through the back door. She made an elected MLA who is also a minister resign in the greed of position," he said
Mamata Banerjee suffered defeat at the hands of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram assembly constituency.
Following this, the Bhawanipore assembly seat was vacated by the West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for the West Bengal chief minister to contest from the seat. Banerjee needs to win the bypoll she has to remain the Chief Minister of the state.
"We want the election to be held in a peaceful environment and in a fair manner. But, post-poll violence is still going on. Around 95 BJP workers have been killed. It is a matter of great concern that how the polls will be held peacefully when there is violence going on and all IPS officers are probing that," he stated.
Asked about the BJP's candidate against Mamata Banerjee, Ghosh said, "The party's election committee will oversee the matter. The suggested names will be sent to Delhi. After that, the parliamentary board will make the final announcement. However, in 2-3 days, the candidates of the West Bengal by-elections will be announced."
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory in the state polls, winning 213 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The BJP finished as the second largest party with 77 seats.
