Former Indian football captain nominated as TMC candidate for Assembly by-polls

Trinamool Congress today named former Indian football team captain Dipendu Biswas and actress-turned politician Nayana Bandopadhyay as its candidates for by-polls in two Assembly seats in West Bengal. "Biswas, who played for top soccer outfits East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting, will be fielded from Basirhat Dakshin seat," TMC All-India General Secretary Mukul Roy told newspersons here.

Nayana Bandopadhyay, a former TMC MLA from Bowbazar segment that was scrapped following delimitation of seats, would be the party's candidate from the prestigious Chowringhee seat in the bypolls, dates of which would be announced by the Election Commission on September 13, Roy said. Bandopadhyay is the wife of TMC Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandopadhyay.

The Chowringhee bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Sikha Mitra, a TMC MLA. Mitra and her husband Somen Mitra, a former TMC Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbour, left the party after a prolonged spat with the leadership. Somen Mitra went back to the Congress and contested from the Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency, but lost to the TMC candidate. In Basirhat Dakshin, the sitting CPI(M) MLA Narayan Mukhopadhyay expired necessitating the bypoll.