Suvendu Adhikari to Submit Nomination in Bhabanipur with Amit Shah
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Kolkata, April 2 (NationPress) Today, Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, is set to submit his nomination as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Bhabanipur constituency in South Kolkata, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah present for the event.
Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday evening and will join Adhikari for a significant roadshow in the Bhabanipur area before the nomination process.
According to a BJP state committee member, "The roadshow will commence at Hazra intersection around noon. Following the event, Adhikari will submit his nomination at the Alipore Survey Building. The convoy will pause 200 meters from the building, and both the Union Home Minister and the Leader of Opposition will walk the remaining distance to enter the building, where Adhikari will officially file his nomination."
In Bhabanipur, Adhikari faces off against the current Trinamool Congress representative and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Adhikari is also contesting from his home constituency of Nandigram in East Midnapore, where he has served as a legislator twice—first with the Trinamool Congress from 2016 to 2021, and then with the BJP from 2021 onwards.
In the 2021 elections, Adhikari won against Mamata Banerjee by a margin of just under 2,000 votes. Subsequently, she secured her seat in a by-election from Bhabanipur, marking her third consecutive term as Chief Minister.
This contest in Bhabanipur is drawing significant attention, not only due to the rivalry between the sitting Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition but also because of the ongoing SIR impact.
This time, Bhabanipur is headed to the polls with a reduction of 47,000 voters, who have been removed from the final voter list published on February 28. Additionally, thousands more are currently under judicial scrutiny due to classification as having "logical discrepancies."
Mamata Banerjee has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of large-scale voter deletions in Bhabanipur, yet she maintains confidence in her ability to win, even if it is by a margin of a single vote.