പശ്ചിമ ബംഗാളിലെ നന്ദിഗ്രാം, റെജിനഗർ മണ്ഡലങ്ങളിലെ ഉപതെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പിനായുള്ള പരസ്യപ്രചാരണം ഇന്ന് അവസാനിക്കും. ഒക്ടോബർ ആറിനാണ് വോട്ടെടുപ്പ്. നന്ദിഗ്രാമിൽ മിലൻ പ്രധാനും ബിജെപിയുടെ ഹസിറായി റാത്തും തമ്മിലാണ് പ്രധാന മത്സരം. റെജിനഗറിൽ ബഹുമുഖ മത്സരമാണ് നടക്കുന്നത്. ഒക്ടോബർ ഒൻപതിനാണ് വോട്ടെണ്ണൽ നടക്കുക.
Political parties will make a final push on Sunday to win over voters in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, with campaigning for the October 6 bypolls ending in the evening.
The two bypolls became necessary after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari vacated Nandigram, which he had won along with Bhabanipur, while Rejinagar fell vacant after AJUP chief Humayun Kabir retained Nawda after winning both seats in this year's Assembly elections.
The contest has drawn particular attention in Nandigram, where Congress nominee Milan Pradhan has been trying to make up for lost time after starting his campaign on Thursday following bail from the Calcutta High Court in old cases linked to the Nandigram agitation. Rejinagar, in Murshidabad district, is seeing a multi-cornered fight involving the BJP, Congress, the Aam Janata Unnayan Party and two factions of the TMC. Votes will be counted on October 9.
Pradhan was arrested on September 18 in connection with six cases linked to the 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation in Nandigram. He was arrested after Mamata Banerjee extended her TMC faction's support to him, and her own candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew from the Nandigram contest following a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Since getting bail, Pradhan has been travelling across almost every part of Nandigram to seek support from voters.
His rivals have also stepped up their campaigns in the final days.
BJP nominee Hasirai Rath has been busy on the campaign trail, with senior party leaders addressing rallies in her support. The candidature of Rath, the mother of Adhikari's close aide Chandranath Rath, was challenged by the Congress in the High Court over an alleged discrepancy between her age and the year she passed Class 10, but the court dismissed the petition.
Chandranath Rath was killed two days after the West Bengal Assembly poll results were declared. Chief Minister Adhikari was scheduled to hold rallies in Nandigram on Sunday in support of Hasirai Rath.
Apart from the BJP and Congress, the Left, ISF and the Ritabrata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress are also in the fray in Nandigram.
In Rejinagar, campaigning was also expected to intensify on Sunday. The constituency is witnessing a contest involving the BJP, Congress, AJUP and two TMC factions.
An Independent candidate for the Rejinagar bypoll was arrested last month in a five-year-old case linked to a clash between two groups during the 2021 state elections.