States » EastPosted at: Sep 18 2026 10:42PM


Nandigram shocker: Mamata Banerjee camp nominee quits after meeting Bengal CM

Midnapore, Sep 18 (UNI) The Nandigram bypoll was plunged into fresh turmoil on Friday after Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the candidate of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool faction, withdrew her nomination hours after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Nabanna.
The abrupt withdrawal, a day before the deadline for withdrawing nominations, leaves the Mamata faction without a candidate in the October 6 Nandigram contest and has triggered fresh questions over the rapidly changing political equations in the constituency.
Pradhan Dey, a teacher, met Adhikari at the state secretariat on Friday afternoon, accompanied by her husband Satyajit, sources said. She subsequently withdrew her nomination in Haldia. There was no immediate public explanation from her for the decision.
The development came after she had filed her nomination with former state minister Akhil Giri by her side, making her sudden exit all the more striking.
The Nandigram contest had already been thrown into unprecedented confusion after the Election Commission barred the rival Trinamool factions from using the All India Trinamool Congress name and its traditional twin-flowers-on-grass symbol amid the organisational dispute.
On Friday, the poll panel allotted the Mamata Banerjee-led faction the name "Mamata All India Trinamool Congress" and a new footballer symbol, while the rival faction was allotted the name "Democratic Trinamool Congress" and an envelope symbol.
The withdrawal of Pradhan Dey's candidature now fundamentally alters the electoral arithmetic in Nandigram. The Mamata faction, which had initially sought to contest the bypoll under its newly allotted identity, is left without a nominee just as campaigning was gathering pace.
The timing of the withdrawal—following the Nabanna meeting and amid the bitter factional battle—is certain to become a major political flashpoint, although the circumstances behind Pradhan Dey's decision remain officially unexplained.
The Nandigram bypoll, already transformed by the Trinamool split and the Election Commission's decision on names and symbols, has now acquired another dramatic twist with the withdrawal of the Mamata faction's candidate. UNI RC NST CDS
Tags: #Nandigram shocker: Mamata Banerjee camp nominee quits after meeting Bengal CM
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