Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee released the list for 291 assembly seats and announced that she will be contesting the upcoming assembly polls from the Nandigram seat and vacate her own seat of Bhowanipore in Kolkata.
This makes the Nandigram seat the most important battleground as it is being speculated that BJP will be fielding Suvendu Adhikari from the same seat. It is being said that Bengal will witness the high voltage drama once Suvendu confirms his candidature from Nandidgram from where he contested the previous elections.
Nandigram in Purbo Medinipur district is the stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari, one of the BJP's biggest acquisitions from the Trinamool Congress ahead of the high-voltage election.
Adhikari was not just the face of the Trinamool in Nandigram, he was also the face of the party’s land protest on the ground.
"I am going to Nandigram on 9th March. On 10th March, I will file the nomination at Haldia," the West Bengal CM said.
Mamata Banerjee has given up the Bhawanipore seat which settles the speculation of whether she will be contesting from 2 seats as she has been pitching for Nandigram since January.
After Suvendu Adhikari left the Trinamool Congress in December and joined Bhartiya Janata Party. Mamata Banerjee had declared that she would contest from Nandigram. "I will contest from Nandigram. Nandigram is my lucky place," she had said, urging voters of her Bhowanipore constituency to understand her decision.
"Nandigram is my big sister, Bhawanipore is my younger sister...I will fight from both if possible. In case I am unable to contest from Bhawanipore, someone else would contest," she had later added.