BJP claims Prashant Kishor registered as voter in poll-bound Bhabanipur

Ahead of crucial Bhabanipur by-elections in West Bengal, BJP on Saturday claimed that political strategist Prashant Kishor has registered himself as a voter from the poll-bound constituency.

Saptarshi Chowdhury, media-in-charge of the West Bengal unit of BJP took to Twitter to share the list of additions in the existing voter list of Bhabanipur constituency and said, "Finally Prashant Kishor is a voter from Bhabanipur!! But does a Bengali girl want foreign voters !!@AITCofficial @KunalGhoshAgain People in the state want to know."

Political strategist Kishor is widely credited for Trinamool Congress' win in the last assembly elections in West Bengal.

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

In June, it was reported that the Trinamool Congress had extended its contract with I-PAC till 2026.

Bhabanipur by-polls will primarily be a contest between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal.

Bhabanipur is the traditional seat of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. During the recently concluded assembly polls in the state, Banerjee didn't contest this seat and sought election from the Nandigram assembly constituency, against former colleague and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

However, she was defeated by BJP leader Adhikari.

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

On September 10, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule of by-polls to be held in the state. According to the schedule, the by-election in Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency in West Bengal will be held on September 30.The counting of votes will be taken up on October 3.