A Trinamool Congress councillor from north Calcutta offered to resign
on Friday as he could not give a healthy lead to the Kolkata North candidate Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

Vijay Upadhyay, the councillor of Ward 20, wrote to mayor Firhad Hakim and the chairperson of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) offering to resign He sent a separate letter to Mala Roy, the chairperson of KMC.

In the letter written in Bengali — Metro has copies of the letters — Upadhyay wrote that he wanted to resign since he was unable to give a good lead. Upadhyay referred to a meeting that Hakim held with the KMC councillors ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Upadhyay wrote that Hakim asked them to ensure leads that they got during the 2021 KMC elections. He wrote that he had won the Ward by 9,500 votes during KMC elections but Bandyopadhyay got a lead of only 217 votes in his ward this time.

“I could not give a good lead to the Kolkata North candidate of Trinamool from my Ward. This is why I have resigned,” Upadhyay told Metro on Friday evening.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay defeated BJP’s Tapas Roy by 92,650 votes in the Lok Sabha polls.

Metro had reported earlier that most KMC councillors had conducted an extensive door-to-door campaign this time. Several other wards, too, either gave a greater lead compared to 2019 elections or reduced the trailing margin, which meant more votes for the Trinamool candidates.

Pockets of south Calcutta with a sizeable non-Bengali speaking population where the BJP had fared well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections have also seen the Trinamool
Congres doing much better in 2024.

Mala Roy, the chairperson of KMC said on Friday evening that a councillor
who wanted to resign must come in person and meet the chairperson.

“One cannot just send a letter by post and resign. The person has to come physically and meet the chairperson and explain the reason for resigning,” she said.

“I am out of Calcutta and I have not seen Upadhyay’s letter. The party will decide whether his resignation will be accepted or not,” said Roy.

Upadhyay said he would not take back his resignation even if the party did not
accept it.