Congress announces candidates for West Bengal's Nandigram, Rejinagar bypolls

New Delhi [India], September 12 (ANI): Congress has announced its candidates for the upcoming by-elections to the Nandigram and Rejinagar constituencies of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
According to the press release, Mohd. Abdullahil Kafi will contest from constituency number 70, Rejinagar Assembly constituency, while Milan Pradhan has been named the Congress candidate from constituency number 210, Nandigram. 
The Nandigram bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari gave up the seat and chose to retain Bhabanipur, where he defeated TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
The Rejinagar seat fell vacant following the resignation of Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir, who had also secured victory from Nowda.
Earlier, West Bengal Congress president Shubhankar Sarkar on Thursday criticised the state government over the alleged lack of development in the Nandigram Assembly seat, saying that the Chief Minister should have retained the constituency as no work has been done there so far.
Speaking to ANI on the by-elections, Sarkar said, "The Chief Minister should have retained the Nandigram seat; he should not have given it up. No work has been done in Nandigram so far."
Moreover, rebel Trinamool Congress spokesperson Riju Dutta challenged TMC chief Mamata Banerjee ahead of the by-elections, saying rebel factions would not put up a candidate against her if she contests from Nandigram.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on September 8 announced the election schedule for vacant Assembly constituencies across Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal, and one Parliamentary constituency in Assam, with voting scheduled to take place on October 6 and counting of votes on October 9.
The polling will be conducted on October 6 (Tuesday), and the counting of votes will take place on October 9 (Friday). The Commission stated that the entire election process is slated for completion before October 11, 2026. (ANI)