Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 02:44pm on 18 Sep 2026,Friday Politics
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress faction will back Congress nominee in the Nandigram bypoll after its nominee, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew from the contest. Dey’s candidature had been announced on Sunday, but she reportedly met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday night before withdrawing on Friday. With nominations already closed for the October 6 election, the faction could not field a replacement. The Congress has nominated Milan Pradhan, while the BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath and Ritabrata Banerjee’s TMC faction has nominated Ehteshamul Haq. Banerjee said Rahul Gandhi had called her over the party’s name and symbol dispute, saying they were together. The Election Commission has frozen the TMC name and symbol.
