‘Not a one-day battle for me’: Mamata Banerjee on facing Suvendu Adhikari in Bhabanipur

Banerjee unveiled the list of Trinamool Congress candidates at her Kalighat residence in the evening.

The party will contest 291 seats, while the remaining three hill constituencies—Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling—have been left for Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) led by Anit Thapa.

The announcement came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) escalated the contest by fielding her arch-rival Adhikari from the cosmopolitan pocket of Kolkata.

Banerjee initially declined to comment directly on Adhikari’s candidature. When pressed, she said, “I have unwavering faith in the people. I serve them year-round—this isn’t a one-day battle for me.”

Adhikari will also contest from his existing seat, Nandigram, where he had defeated Banerjee in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Following her defeat in Nandigram, Banerjee had contested from her home turf Bhabanipur, winning the bypoll to continue as Chief Minister.

In a surprise move, the TMC has fielded former BJP panchayat chief and Adhikari loyalist Pabitra Kar from Nandigram, just hours after inducting him into the party.

The Bhabanipur constituency has since drawn significant political attention, with Adhikari repeatedly asserting he would replicate his Nandigram victory against Banerjee.

Adding to the stakes, over 47,000 names were reportedly deleted from the electoral roll in Bhabanipur during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a development many analysts see as a potential concern for the Chief Minister ahead of the polls.

However, projecting confidence, Banerjee has maintained she would win from Bhabanipur “even by a single vote”, dismissing concerns over voter deletions, which her party has strongly opposed.