Kolkata, Sep 1: The Left Front today nominated CPI(M) candidate Nandini Mukherjee, a political greenhorn, to contest against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the by-election from the Bhowanipore Assembly constituency here on September 25.
CPI(M) workers said that Mukherjee, who had a brilliant academic career is a professor of Computer Science at Jadavpur University and is one of the secretaries of ‘Free Software Movement of India', which aims at propagating and popularing the ideology and usage free software.
The Left Front also nominated Subed Ali Gazi, a CPI(M) candidate, to contest the by-poll from Basirhat (North) Assembly seat.
Both the nominations were given green light by the CPI(M) state secretariat presided over by state secretary Biman Bose in the presence of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and ratified by the Left Front.
Bhowanipore seat fell vacant because of the resignation of Subrata Bakshi, the Transport and PWD minister, to pave the way for the chief minister to enter the Assembly within the stipulated six months. Banerjee is currently an MP and did not contest the last Assembly elections.
By-election to the Basirhat (North) seat was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) legislator Mostafa Bin Quasem. The BJP has decided against fielding a candidate against the chief minister on the ground that her party, the Trinamool Congress, had come to power with a massive mandate.
The BJP has appealed to all political parties to follow suit. PTI
