Bypolls to 2 high-profile West Bengal seats today

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 11

Bypolls to fill one vacancy each in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly will take place in West Bengal tomorrow.

Tough contest

• Asansol: LS seat to see contest between TMC's Shatrughan Sinha and BJP's Agnimitra Paul
• Ballygunge: Supriya, who quit BJP to join TMC, trying her luck from Assembly seat

While the Asansol Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the resignation of BJP’s Babul Supriya following his removal from the Council of Ministers by PM Narendra Modi, the byelection for the Ballygunge Assembly seat has been necessitated by the death of TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has roped in yesteryear Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha to contest from Asansol on TMC ticket. The constituency has a substantial number of Bihar-origin voters and this factor seemed to have prompted Mamata to choose Sinha, who had earlier represented the BJP in Parliament.

Sinha is facing BJP’s Agnimitra Paul, who is at present Asansol (South) MLA. The Congress and the CPM have also put up candidates, but the fight is primarily between Sinha and Paul.

Supriya, who joined the TMC after quitting the BJP, is trying his luck from Ballygunge hoping he will be made a minister in the Mamata Banerjee-led Cabinet if he is able to pull off a victory. The constituency is a stronghold of the TMC and a candidate fielded by the party in a byelection should have ordinarily sailed to victory from the seat.

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