Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has made Supti Pande her party candidate at the Maniktala Assembly bypoll to be held on July 10.
Ms Pande is the wife of late state consumer affairs minister Sadhan Pande who continued as TMC MLA at the same seat till his death on February 20 in 2022. She is also the classmate of the TMC chief at Jogamaya Devi College.
Initially, the late minister's daughter Shreya Pande, who is a young TMC leader, was seen as a strong contender for the seat. According to party sources, a section of top leaders however opposed her candidature.
Shreya also earned displeasure of the TMC chief over her role in leading a victory rally with auto rickshaws playing DJ music that stormed an upscale housing complex in Ultadanga after the party's Lok Sabha Election success.
On Tuesday Ms Banerjee called Ms Pande, Kolkata deputy mayor Atin Ghosh and other TMC leaders including Kunal Ghosh to state secretariat Nabanna for a meeting. The CM later decided to give the ticket to Ms Pande.
Ms Pande, while recollecting her friendship with Ms Banerjee since college days, said, “The decision was not abrupt. There were hints about it. She has (Mamata) given me a responsibility. I will put in all my efforts to fulfil it.”
The Maniktala Assembly bypoll was stuck in a legal wrangle after AIFF chief Kalyan Choubey, who contested at the seat as a BJP candidate in the 2021, challenged his defeat to Pande. Last month he however prayed to withdraw his petition which was granted by the HC.
