TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Trinamool Congress general secretary and nephew of party chairperson Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, on Monday (December 1, 2025) refuted speculations of contesting upcoming Assembly polls from Nandigram.
“I will contest from wherever the party asks me to, whether Nandigram, Darjeeling or anywhere else,” the Diamond Harbour MP said. Union Minister of State and senior BJP leader Sukanata Majumdar has fuelled speculations in the political circles by saying that Mr. Banerjee may contest from Nandigram Assembly constituency in 2026 Assembly polls.
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari had defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in 2021 Assembly polls by a margin of 1956 votes. After the defeat from Nandigram in May 2021 Ms. Banerjee was elected to the State Assembly from Bhabanipur Assembly seat in Kolkata in bypolls that was held in September 2021.
“He (Sukanta Majumdar) may be expressing his own wish, but matters concerning AITC’s internal decisions are for the party alone to decide.. And if Sukanta Majumdar were as politically confident as he claims, he would not have scraped through with a margin of barely 8,000 votes (in the Lok Sabha polls from Balurghat),” Mr. Banerjee said. Abhishek Banerjee is a three term MP from Diamond Harbour and in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls he won the seat by a margin of over 7 lakh votes.
Suvendu challenges Mamata from Bhabanipur
Amidst the claims as to who will contest from where, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari once again challenged the Chief Minister to contest from Bhabanipur.
“I will defeat her ( Chief Minister) from Bhabanipur. The only condition is that she should not run away and contest from Metiabruz (a minority dominated constituency in the south western part of the city),”Mr. Adhikari said.
The BJP leader said that if the Chief Minister contests from Metiabruz then he cannot challenge her and it will be for ISF (Indian Secular Front) and other parties to defeat her.
Ms. Banerjee had contested and won Bhabanipur in September 2021 by a margin of 58, 832 votes securing 72 % of the votes. The LOP remarks assume significance because in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the BJP lowered the gap with Trinamool Congress in the Bhabanipur Assembly. The ruling party lead dropped to 8,297 in 2024 from 58, 832 votes in 2021.
Responding to the Mr. Adhikari challenge, Kolkata Mayor and Senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim challenged anyone in the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defeat him from Kolkata Port constituency. Kolkata Port is another minority dominated constituency which is located next to Metiabruz.
Published – December 02, 2025 12:32 am IST
