The BJP on Tuesday named Hasirani Rath, mother of slain former aide to West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari, as its candidate for the Nandigram assembly bypoll.
The saffron outfit also decided to field former Murshidabad district president Sakharav Sarkar from Rejinagar.
The two seats will go to polls on October 6, with counting scheduled for October 9.
Rath's candidature gives the BJP's Nandigram campaign an emotive dimension.
Sarkar is of course an organisation man and brings that experience.
In the assembly elections earlier this year, BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari (now CM) had won from two seats - Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies.
He gave up the Nandigram seat -- from where he had defeated Mamata Banerjee in 2021 assembly elections.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front on Saturday announced its candidates for the October 6 by-elections to Nandigram and Rejinagar constituencies.
The CPI fielded Shantigopal Giri from Nandigram, the seat vacated by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The CPI(M) has nominated Saeed Asad Ali from Rejinagar, which was relinquished by Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir.
The Left's decision assumes significance in Nandigram, a constituency that has been a political battleground between the BJP and the TMC.
Ms Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, who had served as Adhikari's personal assistant.
Chandranath was shot dead in North 24 Parganas days after elections following its defeat of the TMC.
Chandranath was travelling in a car at Madhyamgram on May 6 when motorcycle-borne assailants allegedly fired at him. He died after being taken to hospital, while the driver was injured.
The case, initially investigated by the state police and a Special Investigation Team, was later handed over to the CBI.
Ms Hasirani Rath is not new to electoral politics. She plunged into politics in 1998 and has served twice as a panchayat member and three times as a panchayat samiti member.
"Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is the guardian of our family," she had said.
The Left's return to the contest in Rejinagar also marks a change from the assembly elections, when it did not field a candidate from the seat.
The Left had supported West Bengal Socialist Party nominee Tusharkanti Chattopadhyay, who had polled only 748 votes.
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| Hasirani Rath and her slain son |
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