West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced Saradha scam accused Madan Mitra as the party’s candidate for the bypoll to Bhatpara Assembly seat.
Ms. Banerjee also named Amal Kishku and Abdul Karim Chowdhury as TMC candidates for Habibpur and Islampur Assembly Constituencies respectively for the upcoming by-elections. The bypolls to the four Assembly seats will be held on May 19. Bypolls to these seats have been necessitated owing to resignations of sitting MLAs who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections. Mitra will contest the Bhatpara seat in North 24 Parganas district, where sitting TMC MLA Arjun Singh has resigned and is contesting as a BJP candidate from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha Constituency.
Madan Mitra, a former transport minister of the State, appeared to have lost importance in the party since his release from custody on bail in September 2016 after spending over 21 months in jail in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chitfund scam.
The announcement of his candidature is seen as his rehabilitation in the party. Ms. Banerjee also said that TMC will support Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Binay Tamang in Darjeeling Assembly seat. It was vacated by Amar Singh Rai, former GJM MLA, to contest from Darjeeling Lok Sabha Constituency as a TMC-GJM candidate.