BJP's Suvendu Adhikari files nomination from Nandigram in high-stakes battle against Mamata Banerjee

Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani took part in the rally before Adhikari filed the nomination papers.

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari files his nomination for the Nandigram constituency ahead of the assembly elections in the state. (Photo | ANI)

HALDIA: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination on Friday from the Nandigram seat where he will be fighting the upcoming assembly elections against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

Adhikari filed his papers at the sub-divisional office in Haldia after leading a-km-long roadshow.

Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani took part in the rally before Adhikari filed the nomination papers.

WB: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari meets locals in Nandigram. He says, "My relationship with them is very old. Mamata Banerjee remembers them every 5 years when polls come. They will defeat her. I am also filing my nomination, I am a voter of Nandigram." #WestBengalElections pic.twitter.com/9ckfZjfMNh

— ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2021

Adhikari, who switched over to the BJP in December, is up against the chief minister who decided to challenge him at his home ground.

Adhikari won the Nandigram seat as a TMC candidate in 2016 by bagging over 67 per cent of the votes, defeating his nearest rival of the CPI by a margin of 81,230 votes.

Banerjee had filed her nomination on Wednesday.

The Left-led grand alliance has fielded CPI(M)'s youth leader Minakshi Mukherjee from the seat.