Nandigram and Rejinagar bypoll: Ballot without the battle

In West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party has the support of 207 MLAs in the 294-member Assembly. Two constituencies are up for bypolls, a situation created because the elected representatives won from other constituencies in the State elections earlier this year.

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The main parties in the fray are the BJP, the Trinamool Congress, the Congress, and the Left. This is the first election in which former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool will fight on the symbol of a footballer rather than its flowers-and-grass insignia.

The Nandigram Assembly seat, with 17 panchayats, has about 2.5 lakh people, of whom about 27% of the electorate is Muslim. This is Suvendu Adhikari’s home district.

Mr. Adhikari has stated several times that the constituency is a prestige fight for him.