KOLKATA: In a dramatic turn of events, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress candidate for the Rejinagar Assembly constituency has declared that he would contest the upcoming bypoll, hours after announcing his decision to withdraw his nomination from the race.
On Saturday afternoon, Rabiul suddenly took a U-turn and decided to contest the Rejinagar bypoll.
He said, “I have changed my earlier decision after speaking to Mamata Banerjee. I will fight the election from Rejinagar with the new symbol and start the campaign today.”
Sources in the Mamata Banerjee camp said she spoke to Rabiul for nearly an hour and asked him not to withdraw his nomination.
Earlier in the day, he had decided to withdraw his nomination, less than 24 hours after Sanchita Pradhan Dey, who was also fielded by the former West Bengal chief minister from the Nandigram seat in Purba Medinipur, exited the contest on Friday afternoon.
Saturday is the last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers for the October 6 bypolls in the high-voltage Nandigram and Rejinagar constituencies.
Counting is scheduled for October 9.
On Friday, Sanchita withdrew her nomination minutes after meeting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state PWD tent on Red Road in Kolkata.
After having lost the party name and symbol, Mamata Banerjee had decided to support Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in the high-voltage Nandigram seat following Sanchita’s withdrawal.
But police arrested Milan on Friday evening on charges of alleged involvement in a murder case dating back to 2007, hours after Mamata announced her support for him.
According to Purba Medinipur police sources, Milan was allegedly involved in an old murder case, and an arrest warrant had also been issued in his name.
The sudden arrest of the Congress candidate has triggered political tension in the Nandigram Assembly constituency, where Suvendu Adhikari contested twice—in the 2021 and 2026 Assembly elections—on a BJP ticket.
Suvendu won the seat by defeating his former political counterpart, Mamata Banerjee, in the 2021 elections. In the 2026 Assembly polls held in April, Suvendu contested from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, Mamata’s home turf in south Kolkata, and won both seats. He defeated Mamata in Bhabanipur and later resigned from Nandigram, paving the way for the bypoll there.
The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath, mother of Chandranath Rath, the slain personal assistant of Suvendu, from Nandigram. The Left Front, Indian Secular Front and the rebel Trinamool faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee have also nominated candidates.
While speaking to reporters at her Kalighat residence on Friday afternoon, Mamata announced that she would support the Congress candidate in Nandigram. She said her party would never support the BJP.
She also said that her party’s strategy for the Rejinagar seat would be announced later. The former chief minister spearheaded attacks on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of playing a “biased” role after the Trinamool Congress lost its name and election symbol, the ‘Jora Ghash Phul’ (two flowers with grass), which it had used since the party’s formation in 1998.
“Today is a black day in the history of democracy, which is unfortunate, unconstitutional, anti-democratic and politically biased. It’s just fulfilling the interests of a particular political party,” she alleged.
The national poll body on Friday allotted separate names and election symbols to the two rival Trinamool Congress factions ahead of the October 6 Assembly bypolls. The Mamata Banerjee-led group got the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and was assigned the ‘Football Player’ symbol, while the faction led by Arup Roy was allotted the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘Envelope’ symbol, according to an Election Commission order.
The interim arrangement follows the EC’s order on Thursday night barring both factions from using the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and its reserved ‘Jora Ghash Phul’ (two flowers with grass) symbol for the upcoming bypolls.
The two groups were asked to submit their preferred names and symbols by Friday morning. The poll panel said the proposed names could retain a linkage with AITC, while the symbols had to be selected from the list of free or available symbols notified for Independents and registered unrecognised political parties.