Mamata Banerjee’s candidate Sanchita Pradhan has withdrawn from the Nandigram assembly seat by-election in Bengal.
Published: September 19, 2026, 11:58 AM IST
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Day after Nandigram blow, Mamata Banerjee’s pick for Rejinagar bypoll withdraws candidature (File)
Amid the ongoing battle between the two factions of the Trinamool Congress in Bengal for control of the party, Mamata Banerjee is being facing with one after another blowA day after Nandigram blow, Mamata Banerjee’s pick for Rejinagar bypoll withdraws candidature.
In a dramatic turn of events, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress candidate for the Nandigram by-election, Sanchita Pradhan De, withdrew her nomination on Friday, a day after the Election Commission froze the party’s name and symbolThis is the second major setback for the Mamata Banerjee faction within 24 hours of the party’s name and symbol being frozen.
Sanchita Pradhan, along with her husband, met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari here in the afternoon, just hours before the withdrawal of her nominationShortly after, news of her withdrawal from the electoral fray emerged.
Meanwhile, immediately after Sanchita Pradhan withdrew her candidacy, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her support for the Congress in the Nandigram seatAddressing a press conference at her Kalighat residence in the evening, Mamata Banerjee said her faction would support Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in Nandigram.
However, within an hour of Mamata Banerjee’s announcement, police at the Nandigram police station arrested Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in an old murder case during the Nandigram agitationThese developments have heated up state politics ahead of the Nandigram by-election.
Mamata lost to Shubhendu in Nandigram in 2021
Nandigram is the same constituency where then-Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was defeated by her former ally and then-Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, in the 2021 assembly electionsSince then, Nandigram has remained a major focus of political conflict between the two leaders.
It is worth noting that Saturday is the last day for withdrawal of nominations for the Nandigram and Rajnagar by-electionsSanchita took this step a day before that.
Sanchita’s name linked to the teacher recruitment case
Previously, there had been considerable debate about whether Mamata Banerjee would contest the Nandigram by-election herself and return to the AssemblyMeanwhile, her faction announced Sanchita Pradhan as its candidate last Sunday.
Sanchita was a teacher at Boyal Primary School in NandigramShe lost her job after the appointments of 26,000 teachers were cancelled in the teacher recruitment case.
Candidate had also left the field in Falta
After the assembly elections held in the state a few months ago, just a day before the re-polling in the Falta seat of South 24 Parganas district, Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan (Pushpa) had surprised everyone by announcing his withdrawal from the electoral fray.
After this, the BJP candidate won this seat by a record marginPreviously, this area was a Trinamool stronghold.
Congress has rejected the alliance proposal
Congress had rejected Mamata Banerjee’s alliance proposal regarding the by-elections to be held on Nandigram and Rajnagar assembly seats.
According to sources, Mamata had called Congress National Organization General Secretary KC Venugopal last Monday and proposed to contest the by-elections jointly with both the parties to stop the BJP.
He had offered to leave the Nandigram seat for the Congress and withdraw his candidate there while requesting the Congress to support his candidate in Rajnagar.
