States » EastPosted at: Sep 20 2026 4:45PM


Bengal: Rabiul gets into poll mode after brief uncertainty over contest, Mamata camp begins poll preparation

Kolkata, Sep 20 (UNI) After a brief spell of uncertainty over whether he would contest the upcoming by-election, Mamata Banerjee-backed Trinamool Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury has begun preparing for the electoral battle in Murshidabad’s Rejinagar Assembly constituency.
Chowdhury held a strategy meeting at the party office in Beldanga on Sunday, attended by Kaliganj MLA Alifa Ahmed and Jalangi MLA Babar Ali, besides local leaders and workers of the Mamata-backed faction.
Sources said the meeting was convened to chalk out the campaign strategy for the October 6 by-election. The results will be declared on October 9.
Chowdhury has also started campaigning in his constituency. On Sunday, Ahmed and Ali handed him a football, the symbol allotted to the Mamata-backed faction for the by-election.
The Rejinagar seat fell vacant after Humayun Kabir, who had won the constituency in the Assembly elections, subsequently won from Naoda and relinquished the Rejinagar seat.
The Kalighat camp is understood to be drawing up its campaign strategy at the panchayat level.
At the same time, Safiuzzaman Habib, nephew of Murshidabad MP Abu Taher Khan, and his supporters were seen campaigning for the rebel Trinamool faction in parts of Rejinagar on Sunday. They were also overseeing wall-writing in different areas.
The Mamata-backed camp said it was not unduly concerned about the opposition campaign. Supporting Chowdhury, Ahmed said, “The people of Rejinagar will have the final say. They will decide whether the Mamata government was better or the BJP government of the past four months. We are therefore 100 per cent confident about the by-election.”
Ali said the BJP had made several promises, but little had materialised. “The name of Mamata Banerjee is associated with our party. We do not think people will have difficulty recognising the symbol. Rabiul is the first candidate to contest on this new symbol and we are hopeful,” he said.
Chowdhury himself has acknowledged that the BJP has an organisational advantage in the contest, but said he wanted to leave no stone unturned in the campaign.
His decision to contest came after considerable uncertainty on Saturday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations.
Chowdhury had initially announced that he would not contest, but reversed his decision within a couple of hours, saying he had reconsidered after speaking to Banerjee. He said he would remain in the contest as long as even one party worker stood by him.
BJP candidate Shakharov Sarkar took a dig at the development, saying frequent political reversals would not matter to voters. “Rejinagar needs industry, and only the BJP can provide it,” he said, adding that people had already made up their minds.
The Left camp is also active. For the first time since Rejinagar was created as an Assembly constituency in 2011, the CPI(M) has fielded a candidate. RSP has also put up a candidate.
CPI(M) nominee Said Asad Ali is a lawyer. Though associated with the Left for years, he joined the Trinamool Congress in 2016 before returning to the CPI(M) in 2018. The BJP has targeted him over his political switches. UNI RC NST SAS
Tags: #Bengal: Rabiul gets into poll mode after brief uncertainty over contest# Mamata camp begins poll preparation
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