West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee named Shatrughan Sinha as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate for the bypolls in Asansol parliamentary seat and Babul Supriyo for the Ballygunge Assembly seat.
“Happy to announce on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress that Sri Shatrughan Sinha, former Union Minister and famed actor, will be our candidate in Loksabha by-election from Asansol,” Banerjee tweeted, asserting Sinha’s candidature.
“Sri Babul Supriyo, former union minister and mentioned singer, will be our candidate in Vidhansabha by- election from Ballygunge. Jai Hind, Jai Bangla, Jai Ma- Mati- Manush!” the chief minister added in a follow-up tweet.
Supriyo, who was once until now a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had resigned as the Asansol Lok Sabha MP.
“I will not hold on to the Berth/Perks/Salary of a MP now that I am no longer a phase of @BJP4India that I received the seat for. If I have it in me, will win it again,” he had said at the time, in a tweet expressing gratitude to Om Birla, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Shatrughan Sinha is contesting from the TMC to fill up that seat.
The Ballygunge Assembly seat, which Supriyo will be looking to win, became vacant after Subrata Mukherjee, who was a Cabinet minister in the Banerjee government, handed away in November 2021.