Trinamul’s Khardah candidate Kajal Sinha, who tested Covid-19 positive, died on Sunday morning, becoming the third person contesting the Bengal elections to die of complications related to the infection.

Sinha tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to the Beleghata ID and BG Hospital on April 21.

Expressing her grief over Sinha’s demise, Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee tweeted: “Very very sad. Shocked. Kajal Sinha our candidate from Khardaha, succumbed to Covid. He dedicated his life to serving people & just fought a tireless campaign. He was a long-serving committed member of @AITCofficial (Trinamul Congress). We will miss him. My condolences to his family and his admirers.”

Sinha was one Mamata’s trusted lieutenants and a party colleague since she was a Youth Congress leader.

Mamata later at a news conference in Murshidabad’s Behrampore said Sinha would win the Khardah seat, which went to polls on April 22.

Before Sinha, Jangipur’s RSP candidate Pradip Kumar Nandi and Samserganj’s Congress candidate Rezaul Haque died of complications from Covid-19. The election to these two seats were initially countermanded and rescheduled for May 16.

For Khardah, since polls have taken place, a re-poll will be announced if Sinha wins. If someone else wins, there will be no re-poll, an Election Commission source said.

Family sources said that Sinha was diabetic which multiplied his health complications. “His condition deteriorated from April 23 when he was shifted to the ICU. The doctors tried their best, but failed,” a family member said.

Trinamul had nominated Sinha for the first time from Khardah when finance minister Amit Mitra, who currently represents the seat, refused to contest the polls owing to his ill health.

Party sources said, Sinha who was the administrator of the Khardah Municipality, was a natural choice this time for his popularity among people cutting across party lines.

He was pitted against former party colleague and turncoat BJP candidate Silbhadra Dutta, who was shifted to Khardah from Barrackpore.

Dutta mourned the death. “I lost one of my close friends...I was missing him on the day of the poll. I was on the road but he was on the bed fighting the disease. I had prayed for his recovery. But the God had other ideas about him in mind.”

CPM’s Khardah candidate Debajyoti Das also took to Facebook to express his condolences. “…For his (Sinha) family, relatives, friends and political colleagues this loss is irretrievable. His untimely death is very painful for fellow citizens like us as well…”

Union minister of state Babul Supriyo, who faced flak on Saturday for addressing a rally in Calcutta’s Entally where Covid-19 protocols were allegedly flouted, tested positive on Sunday for the virus for a second time. Supriyo took to Twitter to announce both he and his wife were positive.

But his post had political innuendos: “V (very) sad that I won’t be able to vote in Asansol. I needed to be there on the road too for the 26th Polls where ‘desperate’ @AITCofficial (Trinamul Congress) Goons hv (have) already unleashed terror machinery to disrupt free & fair polls…”