Dhupguri MLA Mitali Roy on Wednesday performed a puja before her namesake, a pet elephant of the Bengal forest department, as she kick-started her campaign as a candidate of the Trinamul Congress in the same seat.

Wearing a tracksuit, the MLA reached the Garialtari forest beat in the Nathua range of Jalpaiguri district in the morning. Besides performing the puja, she offered the other Mitali a marigold garland and fruits and burnt incense sticks.

“We venerate elephants and consider it as Mahakal Baba (a deity). There is a belief that if puja is offered to elephant before a mission, it would succeed. That is why I performed the puja before launching my election campaign,” the Trinamul candidate said.

The pet elephant was brought to the Garialtari beat about three months ago for patrolling and other purposes, said foresters.

“The elephant, too, seemed to have enjoyed the puja and devoured the fruits offered by the MLA. It was indeed an offbeat manner in which she started her campaign,” said a forest officer.

When Mamata Banerjee had announced Mitali as the Trinamul candidate in Dhupguri, a section of party leaders and workers expressed discontent and sought a change in the nomination. Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president KK Kalyani intervened to quell the revolt and Kalyani herself held a meeting with the disgruntled lot on Tuesday to calm them down.

Mitali had won the seat with a margin of 19,501 votes in the 2016 Assembly polls. However, the result of the Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seat in 2019 showed that the BJP secured a lead of 17,766 votes in Dhupguri.