West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is likely to contest bypoll from Bhawanipore, party sources said on Friday. Veteran TMC leader and Bengal minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay is all set to vacate the Assembly seat for the party supremo.

This comes just a few weeks after TMC had a landslide win in the high-decibel election. However, Banerjee has lost elections from Nandigram to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari. Banerjee needs to get re-elected to the assembly within six months to hold on to the chief minister's chair.

"I am going to resign as the MLA of Bhawanipore seat. I will tender my resignation today. This is my decision as well as that of the party. I am happily abiding by it," the agriculture minister told PTI.

Sources said Chattopadhyay is likely to contest from Khardah seat, where bypoll has been necessitated following the death of party leader Kajal Sinha. "The Chief Minister had won twice from Bhawanipore. All party leaders discussed and when I heard she wants to contest from here, I thought I should vacate my seat. There's no pressure. Nobody else has the courage to run the government. I spoke to her. It was her seat I was just protecting it," he told ANI.

The TMC has won 213 seats in the 292-member Assembly. This is the third term of the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

With inputs from Agencies

First Published:May 21, 2021 4:08 PM IST