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, announcing Sinha's candidature.
"Sri Babul Supriyo, former union minister and noted 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 earlier 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 part of @BJP4India that I won 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, passed away in November 2021.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)