Mamata files nomination for Bhabanipur by-poll

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee filed her nomination for the by-polls to the Bhabanipur seat of  Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal on Friday, according to an ANI report.

BJP announced Priyanka Tibriwal's candidature from Bhabanipur earlier in the day through a notification undersigned by the party's general secretary Arun Singh.

It is crucial for Mamata Banerjee, who became chief minister of the state for the third time after TMC's Assembly election victory, to win the Bhabanipur by-poll to retain her position. She had lost in Nandigram to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the by-election in Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency in West Bengal will be held on September 30.

The Bhabanipur assembly seat was vacated by West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for Mamata Banerjee to contest.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.